An early spring garden

We (Tina & I) spent a lovely day on Sunday with a friend in Waynesboro, PA on Sunday. Our excuse for going to visit was to attend the Carroll County Spring Flower Show just outside Hagerstown, MD.

The flower show was a bust, but the visit was great! Sharon had a wonderful variety of delicacies prepared for our visit and we seemed to be eating a good part of the day!

It had been raining for a few days, but the weather held for us most of the day. We went out and explored her gardens, finding a number of brave little plants starting to poke through the newly defrosted ground.

This was the scene that greeted us as we approached her door:
Snowdrops! These are so often the very first flowers to pop open in the early spring, sometimes even through the lingering snow. They always make me happy knowing that spring is really on the way.

We turned a corner, and:
A sink was tucked into an out-of-the-way corner... Her house and gardens are all full of wonderful little surprises like this.

As we toured the gardens, Sharon kept noticing many things, especially birdhouses, that were the worse for the rough treatment they had received in this snowy winter and the last few very windy days before we arrived. She spent a lot of time finding things and putting them aright. One of the things was this:
A butterfly house...

So many treasures. I think we need to return a bit later to see everything after it has greened up a bit. Her garden was a much better vision of spring than anything we saw at the show and the trip and visit were a delight!