The Sweet Gum tree is now fully awake after having begun the process about 4 weeks ago.

I find myself commenting on just how fast this tree wakes up each spring.

But if I pay attention to the actual dates, it appears to take 5 - 6 weeks on average for this process to complete. That's not exactly "fast." It is, however, further reinforcement to the commentary I often make about how time seems to pass quicker as I age.

The Crocus bulbs and Tulips have already bloomed and transitioned to green.

That leaves the Alliums on deck. And a closer look reveals that something is happening. I guess I'll find out in another week or two what these flowers look like. And yes, I know I've got some weeding to do.

But the big story today is the amount of color in the yard. The Chinese Snowball is looking great !

I'm looking forward to a few seasons from now when this shrub grows. It has also been brought to my attention that these shrubs can get really, really large, which may mean I'll have to move them. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I call this mid-April time period the "peak" of color. A lot of things are blooming simultaneously.

The Bridal Wreath Spirea has been one of the biggest surprises of my planting adventures. The description on the tag from two years ago indicated that it would produce white blooms in the spring. I don't do well envisioning what something is supposed to look like, but thought it sounded like a good idea for the mailbox.

This was one of the best decisions I made for my yard. I really like this shrub, and would like to pick up several more. That will be a story for the future.

The red/white combo Azalea next to the street has reached its peak.

These two usually bloom first. The fact that this particular cluster is huge makes it that much more impressive.

I cut it way back last spring with the hope of encouraging new growth at the base of however many individual plants there happens to be.

The abundance of flowers all over the plants is a good sign. I'll cut it back again after the blooming season ends this year.

The color explosion continues back the driveway.

The darker red Azalea next to the combo always blooms last.

It's usually getting started as all the others are peaking.

But all is "red" further down the line.

For whatever particular reason, the Delaware Valley Azalea I planted last season didn't bloom this year, (third from the left). It's green and growing, which is good, just not blooming.

Azaleas bloom off of last year's growth. Idiot me thought that "trimming" and "shaping" would be a great idea for late in the previous summer. Cutting all the new growth off meant nothing bloomed last spring. I remembered this and left everything alone last fall.

I left all the Azaleas alone last fall, which is what you're supposed to do, and unlike what I did the year prior.

The result of leaving everything alone during the previous summer is an abundance of red this spring.

The Delaware Valley White Azalea I bought last year, (second from the right), didn't bloom. Not sure why, but at least it's green and surviving.

I've got lots of color, which is great.

The Pampas Grass plants I moved out front should grow considerably in the future and add a nice contrast to the abundance of color.

The Dogwood looks great !

Shooting it against the green pine trees makes for a good contrast.

Last weekend's project was the start of some actual "design" work in the front yard. I decided to add some plants to areas of my "random curved shape" to see how it would look. I came home from the first of many UGA Hort. Club Plant Sales with five Goldmound Spirea shrubs that now look right at home.

The key to this design was choosing plants of appropriate size. The concave areas along the shape became great places to plant clusters of other plants. But I didn't want to plant anything too big that would shadow everything in the center of the shape.

Last weekend's experiment worked well, and I've got several concave spaces available.

This weekend, I am going to expand on the above idea by planting three more clusters of plants in other concave areas of the shape. Making this happen involves more weeding, which appears to be turning into a bottomless pit project.

I also penciled in a trip to this weekend's UGA Hort. Club Plant Sale.

These sales are always quite popular around here and very well attended. I find being able to talk to Horticulture professors and graduate students about ideas more beneficial than anything else.

I wandered around for a good hour before making a decision. The reddish plants on the left in the photo above are Husker Red Beardtongues. The smaller green plants on the right are Coronation Gold Yarrows.

I was also able to feed my addiction to ornamental grasses with some Pink Muhly Grass. All of these plants will grow to around 3 feet tall, which will look great for the amount of space available in each concave area.

I really like how the black mulch I used last weekend contrasts with the brown pine straw. Needing more mulch also appears to be a never-ending adventure. But luckily, Lowe's is a mere 2 miles from my house.

You can see what I have in mind from the photo above. I tried to clear as many weeds as possible from three concave areas.

Each plant is going to grow to a full height of around 3 feet. However, the Pink Muhly Grass is supposed to be wider than the Beardtongue and Yarrow, (3 feet wide vs. 2 feet wide, respectively). The concave space at the bottom of the photo above seemed to be wider than the others, and more appropriate for the Pink Muhly Grass.

The Husker Red Beardtongues will go in the next area.

The Coronation Gold Yarrows will go in the area near the street.

The photo above give you an idea of what I'm aiming for.

The idea is pretty straight forward. Dig a hole about twice as wide as the pot, add some garden soil, put the plant in the ground, repeat.

In this case, repeat 16 times.

My shovel, however, didn't get the "repeat" part of the memo.

With 3 holes left to dig, I put the shovel in the ground only to hear a crack ! In all honesty, this was an old shovel. I'm not sure where it initially came from. I'm thinking either wife # 1's dad had it, (possibly from the 1970s or 1980s ?), or my mom had it way back when, (possibly the 1960s ?). Today was the day it gave up.