Don't know what happened to April, it went by so fast. Started out with ice covering everything and then suddenly we had day after day of warm weather, resulting in rapid budbreak on many trees. I don't remember ever seeing Star Magnolias, cherries, Amelanchiers, redbuds, crabapples, and dogwoods blooming at the same time! The peepers came out about a week later than last year, and then the toads started calling for mates about a week earlier, followed very closely by the gray treefrogs. The result was that the window for digging trees was severely curtailed this year. I'm getting too old for this anyway! Now we are into May and there is green everywhere. The garden is looking like a garden again. The temptation is to go out there and start planting like mad. You can buy all the tomato plants you like, but please don't put them in the garden yet. Last week's mini freeze is just a reminder that we are living in western New York, not Florida!