I have been taking a lot of pictures, but I am afraid I left my very nice camera on my US Airways flight in Phoenix and they are yet to find it. It was a Saturday flight and they sent the plane back to the hanger after we unloaded. My camera was up in the overhead storage. They assured me they would go look for it and call me back......

I am back in Texas now and spring came out overnight. Just two weeks ago we had snow. Last week it warmed up and we began shipping all of our orders out. The rest are shipping out this week.

We now have about a month to enjoy spring and then no doubt summer will be here. At the farm, an Ipheion 'Alberto Castillo' is blooming nicely. It was a gift from my host in Alexandria, VA when I spoke to the Potomac Chapter of the Rock Garden Society.

The tulips are really coming into bloom. Here they are accented by the Narcissus tazetta 'Grand Primo' bulbs in a shot I took yesterday.Monroe continues to impress me. They wrote a nice piece about my speech there a couple day ago titled "On the Hunt."

While having dinner in Monroe, I visited with one lovely lady who was diagnosed with West Nile about 10 years ago. She had to relearn everything, including how to speak. When her grandmother was a child, the local Episcopal church burned down. Her grandmother rode her bike by the church and the men who were repairing the church asked the then young girl if she would like some of the irises that had survived the fire. She said yes and carried them home on her bike, and the irises have been in the family ever since.The lightning lit up the sky last night in a fabulous storm that kept me up for awhile. Then came the rain, which I actually did not want as it will make for a muddy harvest today! We are almost done harvesting the bulbs and will begin shipping orders out on Monday!

Monroe was a wonderful town and welcomed me with open arms! I even had a daffodil cake which I just could not get over. It tasted delicious, but we did pull the daffodils out. Thank you Mrs. A for making it and giving me a wonderful tour. Your potted plant combinations were fun and your bulb hunting adventures along the bayou were fantastic. This site of Ipheion on the bayou was unbelievable.

Working in the fields today, harvesting some bulbs and cleaning up other rows. The birds are already active chirping away and we have more frogs out here then ever. They are LOUD at night right now. It looks like it is going to be another beautiful day!

Made it back from Monroe at 2am. Spent the day speaking and bulb hunting! More to come.

I have made it to Monroe to speak to the Monroe Garden Club today. That makes my visits to Monroe twice in two weeks!

This morning I managed to make the pictures work for yesterday's blog.

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I had a guest every day last week, with about one hour in between each one. The week ended with a trip to Louisiana. Much of the time I did not have internet access, so here is a quick recap.

At the cabin I had a group of Englishmen. They were a delightful crowd and we had a wonderful time. They enjoyed some time fishing by the cabin. Martin sure knows how to cook an English breakfast.

After the crew departed for the rest of their trip across Texas, I had time for a short little bulb hunt. This site with an old barn was home to some campernelles, but down the road was an open pasture that was full of campernelles (Narcissus x odorus) and Texas star jonquils (Narcissus x intermedius).

The next morning I left for a trip to Shreveport, Louisiana where I stopped for a talk at Garrisons Greenwood Nursery. Mark, one of the owners, was a delight to work with and is doing wonderful things drawing in speakers and large crowds to their nursery just west of town and off of Interstate 20. The crowd was engaging and nice, but I threatened that if any of them lost interest I would use one of the nursery’s giant elephant hears to keep them awake. They had lots of questions at the end, which I always enjoy.

Continuing down Interstate 20, I saw numerous bulbs scattered across the median between the roads. These were more Texas stars. Traveling through Monroe was a delight and it is to be noted that the Penthouse belonging to the old Louisiana State Representative Shady Wall is under renovation.

After Monroe, I went South to a little town of Mangham.

Dr. Bill Welch has a home. The flower bulbs, forsythia, saucer magnolias (Magnolia x soulangiana), and more were making a spectacular display.

Narcissus trevithian, Narcissus tazetta ‘Grand Primo’, blue Roman hyacinths, and pink hyacinths made a nice bulb border. Here is the same border from the reverse angle.

Snowflake bulbs (Leucojum aestivum) are sometimes not fully appreciated until seen in mature clumps. Here they can be seen making a nice border.

The same holds true for the ‘Grand Primo.’ Here a mature clump adds an extreme splash of color. Albeit white, it still makes an impressive impact.

The forsythia was in complete bloom.

The Roman hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) and snowflakes went well together.