Spring Has Finally Sprung

March and April this year were dreadful months—cold and dreary. Even if we had an occasional nice day during the week, the weekends were dank and gray. We’d had little snow through the winter, so to make up Mother Nature dumped storms on us, first one on Easter (April Fool’s!), and then another a week later. Not the latest snowstorms in the record books, but not welcome when we should be seeing tulips. Not a lot of snow by volume, but enough—and the temperatures cold enough—that any early signs of spring were nipped in the bud. Literally.

The neighbor’s forsythia—which is my annual bright harbinger that winter will end—usually blooms by early March. This year it provided only a few anemic petals about a month late. My magnolia tree began to blossom in early April—just in time to have its buds frozen by the snow. I saw a few daffodils and tulips in the neighborhood this year, but not many.

Then on May 1 I looked out my window and saw that our new dogwood tree, a little thing we had planted last fall to replace one that died, had burst into riotous pink! And that same day, one last magnolia bloom appeared in the midst of its frozen brown brethren.

The little pink dogwood tree

The only magnolia blossom to come after the snowstorm killed its brethren (the brown spots on the tree)

Finally, we had spring. Late, but it did come with all its beauty.

Our backyard — pink dogwood in the foreground, and redbud behind it.

Since then, we’ve had our first big thunderstorms of the season, complete with tornado touchdowns in the southern suburbs. More rain and thunder followed, along with heavy winds.

Yes, spring has arrived, the ugliness along with the beauty.

It will probably be a short season, as we will likely move straight into summer’s heat and humidity. But once more, the annual cycle has continued.

What have you noticed about the changing seasons this year where you live?