It's Spring, it's Spring, and everything is popping up

You just never know which of the plants that went dormant starting in the Fall are going to actually grow again. And I am pleasantly surprised by what we're seeing in the garden.

In the above photo the dahlia Bishop's Children plant is waking up in its pot.

I had never planted dahlias before or knew how to properly store or keep them protected during the winter months.

So once the plant dried up, I cut all the stems down to the base of the plant and then covered the nubs with soil and wood chips.

I guess that was the right thing to do.

An image of the same dahlia plant from last summer.

It was a bee magnet, constantly visited by bees of all kinds. The bee hovering above the blossom is a Leafcutter bee.

Here is one of the Scabiosa caucasica 'Perfecta Alba' plants in our native garden area, sprouting large leaves. It looks so much bigger than last year. I deadheaded it last year, and then cut it down to a couple of inches in the winter.

Because I had never grown these plants before, either, I didn't know if it was actually going to grow back. So far, so good. Hopefully it will produce a lot of blossoms for those eager, hungry bees and butterflies.

This the same plant last year when it was in bloom. It produced five blossoms and the leaves were much smaller.