On Tuesday, it looked like this:

Today, the first of August, it looks like this:

Still, I’m not sure we can say it is spring yet. We’re having some very cold days – just 9 degrees Celsius today – and some frosty mornings.

I looked around the garden to see what else was blooming, and spotted the first rhododendron.

As I got closer to get a good shot, I noticed ants on the buds. The bane of my life. They don’t look very alive. Perhaps the rhododendron killed them just as one nearly poisoned my goat once. I treated the buds with eco-oil just in case the blasted blighters are still rampaging.