I apologize to anyone misled by yesterday's April Fools Day post. The State flower of Illinois is not, I repeat, not Skunkcabbage. It is rather the Blue Violet. For a proper post about the State Flower of Illinois, please visit Beckie at Dragonflycorner.
From the "Sometimes I Hate When I'm Right" file:
As these photos taken yesterday show, there was still snow on the ground in April from all that snow we got in February.
Compare these with the snowy photos from February.
Yes, there actually was a small Cotinus coggyria buried under all that snow (it's on the left of the Physocarpus, surrounded by mulch and chickenwire). Here's another shot of it.
I'll wait until it's about to leaf out before I remove the chickenwire. There are still hungry rabbits and deer on the prowl.