The bulbs are mostly faded now. I do mean faded in all senses as flowers have either withered or have lost color. Even the long-lasting 'Katie Heath' daffodils have paled from pink to cream.

Sure, several cultivars of clematis were planted under my new trellises and white pines were purchased but what I'm really growing now are lettuces, pansies and violas.

Lettuces.
I thinned my lettuce patch for the second time yesterday. Fortunately, there were more than enough baby leaves of Black Seeded Simpson, Buttercrunch, Lolla Rossa, Red Sails (still best name) and Speckles for a tasty and colorful salad.

Oh, it's painful for me to yank those little plants. Threadlike white roots seemed strong and reluctant to leave to their plush soil. I love to grow plants but I also love to eat and, that day, my stomach out-ruled my heart.

Violas and pansies.
Sometime during April of each year, I stock up on violas and pansies which, for our part of the country, is prime time for planting these adorable sisters of the Viola genus. I'll never forget the first time I visited my brother, David, who lives just outside Raleigh, North Carolina. It was January (January!) and pansies (pansies!) were blooming all over the city. We still joke about that. Pansies!

Besides their perky flowers, violas and pansies are sturdy. This is a good thing for a Minnesota garden because we received two inches of wet, heavy snow on May 7.

In twin terra cotta containers on the front porch are mixed cultivars of violas: 'Sorbet Yellow Frost,' 'Sorbet Coconut Swirl,' 'Penny Lane Mix.' At the entrance to our back door is a smaller container of 'Imperial Antique Shades' pansies. Compared to their cheerful and relaxed relatives on the front porch, these flowers look like frilly, fussy, overdressed Victorian ladies.