This Year vs. Last Year

It seems like everything in the garden is much later than it was last year.  For the past two years everything was really early, so who's to say what normal is anymore. 

Here is an example of how late we are (or how early last year was).  This is a photo that I published on 4/19/12 ... if I remember correctly, the photo was taken the day before.

 

 

This is the same toad house, in the exact same spot ... photo, from a slightly different angle, taken yesterday afternoon.

 

 

 

The rose is 'Reve d'Or'.  It has only been fully leafed out for a few weeks.  Its buds are small and fat, and I imagine we are two weeks from seeing its first flower.  The roses in the rest of the garden are in a similar state ... full of buds, and I am looking forward to what should be a pretty great rose season. 

 

Rose Vignette

This little ceramic Toad House sits on a concrete paver beside our garage door.  The rose, Reve d'Or, is growing up the wall ... this stem was knocked down somehow, and it was laying on the ground ... creating a perfect rosey vignette.

All I had to do was sit on the ground and take this photo.  (I corrected the color and the exposure a bit in PicMonkey, and I added a hint of a dark edge to accentuate the rose.)

Isn't it delightful when beautiful things just happen!