We’ve had a dry time of it lately, much to the dismay of the Ether Garden and its stewards. Fast is approaching the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club’s annual Morel foray, and I’m beginning to fear there won’t be many Morels (or much else) to be found. Such is life when you’re at the whim of nature though I suppose.

April is a weird time here at the Ether Garden. Not quite growing temperatures sometimes, and other times it feels like summer! Confuses garden and gardener alike. Nonetheless there are definite signs of life about. The Lillies are pushing up their bizarre looking red spikes, Daffodils are starting to open, and the occasional albeit confused wild violet is popping up. Chives are starting to bud, and the Columbine which we thought had been lost to cutworms is pressing on with increasing vigor. Hooray for natives, no?

The cherry blossoms are fading, and the leaves are starting to come in. It’s interesting to watch the colors change from white to light pink to dark pink and then to green. Sometimes plants fascinate me. This weekend is the Blossom Tour in Lower Lawrenceville, and I’ll be there! I’m going to have a few examples of things you probably already have in your home which can be recycled into handy gardening tools, how nifty is that? Hopefully the weather will be nice for it!

Bloom Day is here, and just on time! We had our first blossoms here in the Ether Garden about two days ago, in the form of our dwarf irises. They even beat out the crocus blossoms this year, which have yet to be seen even in bud! Of course, we’ve known spring was on it’s way for a while what with the temps popping up into the 70’s for a few days there and the robins being back in town.

The pussywillow is also in bud, which is always a treat. We actually have two in the Ether Garden, one standard and one of the weeping variety. I’ve always loved their little grey furry buds. All the trees seem to be in bud in fact- the weeping ornamental cherry and the maple are both brightly colored with scads of buds waiting for just the right moment. The cherry blossoms make such a brief appearance, but oh what a show!

This week also marked a good bit of garden clean up, namely pulling off the hay mulch wet with rain and melted snow and replacing it (where needed still) with some of the loftier bunches from on top. Trimming back the last of the dead tops from long since spent blossoms, and raking up of errant mulch and leaves is on the agenda for the next couple days. Soon- we plant peas!

More than just flowers are bloomin’ here in the ether-garden this Bloom Day. While checking on the garden and replacing a few of the milk-jug cloches which got blown around during one of our recent storms, I happened across this sweet little one and his (her?) brothers and sisters. They were hiding awfully well, I nearly trampled the lot of them! I was surprised how calm this little guy was, and simply couldn’t resist a brief snorgle of his little white-spotted head. I made sure to explain the ground rules of living in the ether-garden before sending the little one along home.

Of course, there are plenty of flowers blooming too. The ornamental alliums have presented themselves in all their pom-pom glory, and the chives are following suit. The wild violets are out, along with a sneaky little variegated vinca growing up along the side walk. The yellow irises are in bud, as is my sage. I’ve never seen sage blossoms before, so I’m quite anxious for them to open. They’ve been in bud for some time now…

Sweet Vitriol has also bloomed a bit, you may have noticed a new author recently. Luminiferous joins in the fun to share his thoughts and ideas, and to keep the show running when I’m out of town. I see wonderful things in the future from this. A new page will be popping up soon as well, with brief bios and such on both Lumin and myself.

Not only is today bloom day, but for those in the Pittsburgh area and Allegheny County, we are now considered to be safely past the threat of frost. Now, if it goes and frosts again don’t blame me as this isn’t an exact science. I just know that today is the best birthday present I can ever ask for- the day I can safely plant the rest of my garden. Most of it’s in already, but what few seedlings were still waiting for that magic time can finally go outside and stretch out their roots and greet the world. Happy Bloom Day!

Speaking of co-operation I stopped by my local co-op, the East End Food Co-Op today and they were putting out the first flats of locally-grown organic and heirloom transplant seedlings for sale! I didn’t get to see all of what they had, as they seemed to be explaining the different plants and prices to the staff when I arrived. I did see garlic chives, a few other herbs, and rhubarb. Mmm… rhubarb. I think I’ll have to snag myself some of those seedlings. Remember back when I was talking about what all I’d be growing this year, and how it was subject to change based on the available seedlings? Yeah- this is what I was talking about. I’m a sucker for baby plants. They’re just so darn cute (and tasty).

Now, that’s not to say that there’s nothing blooming in the house of the ether garden! Jeremy is having some swimming success with one of his aquatic plants, the Anubias barteri (possibly v. nana). In addition to this lovely bloom, there’s another bud stalk reaching it’s way upwards which I belive shall unfurl itself within a few short days.

Sweet Vitriol is also blooming. You may have noticed a few new items in the sidebar. Because I know how anxious we all are for something to happen in our gardens these days, I’ve added a twitter update widget. I’ll keep quick little updates running there, giving the heads-up on upcoming posts and the like. Also added to the sidebar is a handy link to the Mouse and Trowel Award nomination form. Nominations are open until April 15th, I already made my nominations- did you?