Spring has sprung. We have returned from the sunny south and the garden is waking up.
The above photos are the nice things that are happening. Unfortunately, I discovered that my 3 orange deciduous rhododendrons are covered in scale. Absolutely covered. I decided I needed to remove them. I started with the chainsaw and broke the chain. Then I moved on to the sawzall. That worked pretty well. I decided to leave one plant to see if it will make a come back and “hoick out” the other two.
Downside: a sore back and two beautiful shrubs gone. Upside: lots of space to move crowded plants into. The grass is getting green. The epimedium are almost ready to pop and …….we might have snow on Friday. The gardener sighs.
Gramma Penny's Garden 
That is unfortunate about the rhododendrons. We used to grow them on the farm, but only a few. They are unpopular here, probably because no one knows about them. There are only a few in the landscapes here. Scale is a problem that I never encountered with them though.