As the weather continues to get warmer (though with a few cold snaps — we’ve got frost and freeze alerts for this weekend) and the ground wakes up, I keep finding more surprises in my yard.

One was bluebells. I’ve read about them in books about spring in England. I’ve seen pictures and thought they were so magical. It turns out there’s a native Virginia bluebell, and there’s a state park that has a bluebell festival, plus at the right time of year you can just go there to walk on trails to see them. That was Easter weekend this year, when I was too busy to deal with it. Then a couple of weeks ago I was in my backyard, spotted something blue, went farther up the hill, and saw that I had a little patch of bluebells. I need to see what I have to do to nurture them because I want to encourage them.

I also found some forget-me-nots in the front yard. I planted those. Last year, I put out some seeds on a bare patch in the front lawn, but nothing happened. This year, though, some came up. Some of the other things I planted last year also seem to be thriving. I moved in for real last year the day after Easter (that was when the furniture got moved in and I started sleeping in the house), and after the Easter service they encouraged people to take the flowers. I snagged a hydrangea and planted it. It seemed to stay alive last year but never bloomed, and now it’s got new growth this spring. The following week, they’d set the remaining Easter lilies out in front of the church with a “free” sign, so I took one and planted it. I thought it was dead, so I dug it up and threw it aside. It’s growing now and looks good. No bloom yet, but we’ll see what happens. I found a “balloon plant” on clearance at Lowes and kept it in the pot as a patio plant, but then I saw a lot of bushes of it around town, so I planted it in a flowerbed. I thought I’d waited too late for it to take root before winter, but it’s got new growth this spring. I really liked that plant, so I’m glad. My Realtor gave me some plants at closing, and the one she took a cutting of from her yard is doing well and spreading. It’s a ground cover called Creeping Jenny. She also gave me some creeping thyme, but I can’t find it so it must not have survived. I thought the mint she gave me died because I couldn’t find a trace of it, but I spotted a sprig yesterday.

As I pull weeds, I’m finding that there are a lot of stepping stone paths through the yard that have been covered by grass and other vegetation. I’m trying to uncover all those to add some visual divisions, but some of the paths are in just the wrong place, the way my front walk is. I think some bushes have grown since those paths have gone in, particularly the lilac, which is going nuts right now. It’s almost intoxicating being near it, the scent is so strong. Now that I have a screen door up over my back door, I’ve been opening the door to get the lilac scent into the house.

Not all my discoveries are garden-related. I keep digging up odd things like silverware and even a potato masher. I just about have a full place setting, but I don’t intend to bring them into my kitchen. I may keep them as garden tools.