Native plants for a Cape Cod garden

The spring peepers are back in orchestral mode. They first started some feeble song rehearsals on March 23. Not quite as early as last year, but commendable considering that the nights, and sometimes the days, are below 32 degrees. They had it easy last spring when it was 70 degrees out. They are not the only ones back in action. I remember seeing the common grackles a month or so ago, massing in the trees everywhere. Soon after the turkey vultures spiraled into the Cape Cod sky-scape. I’ve already seen a few ospreys here and there, but the birds we’re most familiar with have not yet arrived. I hope they survived the winter. Maybe they are here but are unaccustomed to what they are finding: A lot of the familiar nesting platforms are now devoid of last year’s structural remnants, or worse – they have been toppled thanks to our weekly stream of blizzards and nor’easters. In the water, the herring have come in and stripers are off the Connecticut coast. Another rite of spring is soon to start – it is apparent that the hunter’s blood still flows in some of us. The ground is stirring with plant life too. Virginia bluebell shoots are showing off their dark green shoots, and the Phlox is starting to show green buds. I know from past years that these plants will soon be overtaken by more vigorous growers. Who will be the first native bloomer this time around?