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   Spring officially begins March 21-22 depending on how the moment of equinox falls relative to leap year.  This is the time when most of the gardening and landscaping gets busy because the weather is nice and everybody wants to get out and do something besides all the big box garden centers have brought in all the new plants (regardless of the best time to plant relative of when the last frost is expected).
   March is the peak of tornado season thus the association with being windy is an understatement.  Whether roaring in/out like a lion and out/in like a lamb the one thing to be expected is dead limbs coming down.  These will need to be picked up so the grass can be mowed although I like to wait and hide Easter eggs in it although by then it has gotten to big for the proper mowing height.  Meanwhile the sap is beginning to rise in the trees so pruning should have already been finished, and it is getting past time to plant the earliest frost tolerant or cool season vegetables and any dormant trees (especially if left over from Arbor Day, the last full week of February in Alabama), but the lazy gardener still thinks is still to cold to work outside.  The earliest spring ephemeral flowers are blooming before the leaves on the trees put out and shade the ground so get out and see them.  A peak time for spring ephemeral wildflowers is the weekend after those disgusting invasive Bradford pears start blooming along with the more preferable native serviceberries, but many wildflowers are both earlier and later.  This is also when the shad run and crappie fishing gets going.  
    Easter usually falls in April, although it is sometimes in March, but in most years redbuds and/or dogwoods are in bloom and usually coincides with the last frost known as dogwood winter.  With the March winds bringing April showers it may be to muddy for working in the garden besides the danger of frost is not over until the middle of the month, but by then the lazy gardener complains about is being to hot.  By mid-April it will be safe have most of the seed in the ground and transplant tender vegetables such as tomatoes although keep an ear out for any late frost/freeze warnings that may come with blackberry winter also known as strawberry winter to some.  If growing the transplants yourself the seed should have been started about 6 weeks before around the beginning of March, also tomatoes need temperatures that alternate more between day and night than is normal for a thermostat controlled living space.  There are still lots of wildflowers to see all through April, just be aware that this is also when most of the turkey hunters are also in the woods and bass boats are on the lakes. 
    As that rhyme goes April showers bring May flowers, but our seasons are a little ahead of those were it originated although there are still some to see through the month most notably in approximate order are mock orange, mountain-laurel, big-leaf magnolia, rhododendron, snowbells, flame azalea, and the Alabama state Wildflower, oak-leaf hydrangea beginning around Memorial Day, the unofficial start to summer.  Any of these flowering shrubs would be suitable for decoration.  All the warm season vegetables need to be planted by now except for some staggered crops so that everything doesn't come in all at once.  May is also the time to prune (and that does not mean top or shear) trees and shrubs that just bloomed, this way there is still time through the summer for the flower buds of next spring.to grow, thereafter the only summertime pruning will be for suckers, watersprouts, broken/crossed branches etc., with hydrangeas being one of the few exceptions.  The so called June-bearing strawberries are ready in May around here while mayhaws will just be starting to come in about the last week, but bream are on the bed throughout the month.  It is also time to cut hay; otherwise imagine how much worse hay-fever would be since all that grass is wind pollinated and was starting to bloom.
   Spring officially runs through much of June, but it is starting to get too hot to do some things like planting trees and shrubs with out increasing the risk of losing the plants during the summer.  School is finally out and the children are spending quality time with the AC.  What?  They should be outside, but don't forget the sunscreen, hat, etc. anytime they are outside.  Anyway our mayhaw season is in full swing early in June although those in the native range are long gone.  Next are cherries if the birds didn't get them all again, then the earliest peaches and apples.  Mountain camellia is the most notable wildflower, and it is in peak bloom around the first weekend of June where it can be seen at Buck's Pocket State Park, Guntersville State Park, and DeSoto State Park as well as deep down in Little River Canyon.  Even though it may be too hot to plant trees and shrubs without appropriate irrigation (weekly and deeply, which equivalent to an inch of rain if none came) it is a good time to plan and prepare to plant them in autumn.  Meanwhile the earliest summer vegetables will be getting ready for harvest.