Looking back at some photos from previous years, it’s really obvious how early spring is this year. The dogwood in the front yard that was in full, coral-colored bloom on my daughter’s first birthday almost six years ago is boasting all its beauty already, a full month early. Same goes in the back yard. One of my favorite things about this house is this tree, and not only because every year it does this:
It’s right outside of our deck, and it gives us privacy from the folks behind us in the spring, summer and winter. When we first moved into the house, this part of what is actually two flowering trees, growing intertwined together, was only an upstart weed at the base of the other, already established tree. Our new neighbors were over, helping us to do some yardwork, and I remember her asking me if I wanted her to pull that “weed” out. I said sure. She battled with it for maybe half an hour or so before giving up. And thank goodness for that. For the past few years my daughter has climbed it, and sat on a bench underneath of its shady canopy. And every spring, when it first explodes into a white snowball, I gaze out at that startling white against a sky that hasn’t yet fully lost the grey of winter and think, “Wow”.
Every year it starts off white and goes to pink, and then the blooms just kind of give way to the leaves. But this year that transition was a little more pronounced. After this weekend’s hard spring rain, the pink tree has lost much of its glory and given way to pink outdoor carpeting. How lovely!
