It’s a good thing that a woodland garden doesn’t really need a gardener for miracles to appear.

Every year, when we least expect to see it, Iris cristata (dwarf crested iris) makes its spring appearance in ever larger swathes in the woods, often close to boulders, and despite being grilled by heat and drought the previous summer.

When we first came to Blue Note Garden in 1998, we found exactly one white trillium and it has persisted as a soloist ever since that time.

This year there were finally two white trillium (trillia?) side by side. A 25-year silver anniversary celebration, indeed?!

Special mention is due of a bird that is now showing up at many different times of the year—here in a window box below a feeder in January 2023. It is notoriously difficult to photograph; most of my photos look like nothing more than a smear of the characteristic bluebird blue as it flies away: