Once upon a time, it was NOT rainy and gray…I’m glad I got these photos before the deluge began.

Flowering almond

Bleeding heart

Brunnera

Epimedium

Lilac Krasavitsa Moskvy (“Beauty of Moscow”)

Japanese Maple

Mohawk Viburnum

Last but not least, the birthday dogwood!

We’ve planted birthday trees for our two oldest children, and every year we try to take some photos with the kids next to their trees on or around their birthdays:

Confession: This is actually my son’s second birthday tree. The first birthday tree we planted didn’t survive when we moved to the house we’re in now, and tried to transplant it in our new yard. We somehow managed to kill my second son’s first birthday tree as well. In an attempt to avoid being serial tree murderers, we have not planted a tree for our youngest…

Three birthdays ago…

Seven years ago, age 8