Holly trees are in bloom.  The air is tinged with the wonderful scent of holly flowers.   





The flowers don't last long at all, maybe a day or two.  They're constantly raining down from the tree as they fall off.  But there are many buds, and they don't all bloom at once, so that stretches the blooming period out a bit.  The pollinating insects are all over it, creating a nice background buzz.

Something else has started to bloom, too:





Looks like I was right about that mystery weed.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberry

Looking forward to picking some fruit at some point.

Yesterday's blog post.  This is the third one, and we're also sharing it on our store blog and Substack!

https://lavendercottagebooks.com/2024/04/09/lavender-cottage-blog-april-9th/

Lots of great books for my parish newsletter: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2024/04/book-reviews.html

Some of the flowers have bloomed.  Azaleas and bearded irises.  If you look carefully, you can see a dusting of pollen on the petals of the irises.








Only the purple irises have bloomed so far.  The other colors have yet to appear.

Black cherry tree has flowered.  Expecting fruit again in a couple of months.

Holly trees and presumed-to-be-Rubus plants have buds on them, so they should bloom in the coming weeks.

Started a new blog about overlooked bits of military history, today featuring a may-be-true story of the Duke of Wellington counting his beans in 1812:  https://www.forgottenwarstories.com/blog/the-duke-counts-his-beans-1812