Who doesn't get a little happier this time of year? So many colors! Pink , white, bright green trees everywhere, yellow, purple, white wildflowers--we're having a bit of a late spring, but it's trying to make up for lost time, I think. The one exception is that, at our elevation, the redbuds--native and the color of raspberry sherbet--are not quite as spectacular as other years, the buds having been mostly frozen off a couple of weeks ago.
We have a spindly, two-year-old that has some buds for the first time, though, so that makes up for it, somewhat. Future eye candy! Most of the tulip magnolias in the area suffered, as well, but the dogwoods and flowering cherries are are spectacular! 
Our own little dogwood, however, was broken in half by heavy the snow this year. Even so, it valiantly produced two flowers. Gotta love the spunk! It stays.I went to two plant sales this weekend. The local chapter of the Master Gardeners hold one a year at their demo garden in Grass Valley.
There was one other at the Miner's Foundry--a historic venue--in Nevada City, which raises money for it's upkeep. I was able to, among other small treasures, score a double-file viburnum--a replacement for one that the deer ate a week after I planted it a couple of years ago. Yeah, that's what I do, now--throw around obscure plant names like I know what I'm talking about. Dicentra, heuchera, astilbe. And, yes, just one more Japanese Maple. Up to seven, now, but I'll never have enough.
After one of the plant sales, I also cruised over to the Growers' Market that is held at another historic location near the Fairgrounds--Northstar House. The market "happens" on Saturday mornings, May through October. The house was built for the owners of the Northstar Mine in 1906 by Julia Morgan, an iconic California architect (a rare woman in the field at the time) who also designed Hearst's Castle buildings and Asilomar Conference grounds, among about 700 other commissions. The Northstar House is in disrepair, unfortunately, and gradually being renovated. I bought snow peas and goat cheese.
Garden-wise, I finally set out the peas and broccoli and threw some lettuce seeds in--oh, two months late, or thereabouts. I can't explain my priorities, exactly. The weather was funny and I was also busy making more room for strawberries by filling a giant round metal container with soil and setting it next to the two half-barrels that hold the others. Behind them I also built a new terraced area for corn and something else to be figured out later. I've been ruthlessly yanking all the lupine, clover and vetch that don't belong inside the fence. It used to be downright difficult to rip up gorgeous lupine. Not so much anymore. Besides, there's plenty more outside.
Oddly, this post started out to be about a quilt show--you know, cleverly dovetailing with the spring colors, and all. So, tomorrow...
[Photos: pink dogwood in Grass Valley on Saturday, our little redbud, valiant little broken dogwood, Miner's Foundry, Northstar House.]
