Spring Stars

The yard is really blooming now.  I keep trying to stay ahead of things, but once the spring really takes hold things just move faster than I can keep up with.  In the last few days I pruned the apple trees of the last few sucker branches, bought two new Yews and planted them along the west side of the house, moved the Lilies of the Valley that the Yews displaced out to the creek, planted 12 potatoes in the vegetable garden, fertilized a bunch of stuff, put blood meal on the lilies that something is eating every night, moved a catnip clump from the garden up near the house so Kate and Cleo can find it, cut back a bit more dead foliage, purchased leeks and broccoli starter plants, moved a bunch of plants from the basement up to the deck and the greenhouse.  I'm sure there is more, but I can't remember.

 

The stars of this week are the Darwin Tulips, the Trout Lilies, the one single Primrose that has been blooming for at least 8 or 9 years under the Willow at the beginning of the walkway to the creek.  Also the Pasque flowers that have planted themselves in unexpected places, and the beautiful Daffodils.  I'm also pleased at the progress of the Ligularia that we moved from the area around the old pond out to the first berm.  It is coming up beautifully.  Very early spring seems to be a wonderful time to transplant perennials if you can be sure of where they are.              

The Winter Just Keeps on Going

One week after the next the snow just keeps piling up, and although I am grateful for the clean cover, I know that the rabbit and vole damage, and the broken plants lie just below the surface.  It is beautiful again, with the recent 6 inches of snow that fell on Thursday.  But the temps are cold again and it seems like winter.  We're thinking about what we will do with the pond in the spring, and I just looked up and found that the pond water unfroze last year on April 5th.  That is only a month away, but it seems impossible that such a thing would happen this year.  Once the snow and frost does clear, we have to move away all of the rocks and stones from the perimeter of the current pond and then I have to keep an eye out for the emergence of any and all plants around the area.  They will each have to be dug and moved or saved to be replanted.  I am concerned about the ligularia that is just behind the gargoyle.  I have heard that the roots of ligularia grow very deep, and I don't know if I'll be able to transplant it - almost certainly it will be set back.  With luck, it will be dividable and I can plant the divisions in places where they will thrive.  As the yard grows, there is more shade, and some of the plants that were originally put in sunny spots may well do better elsewhere.

The photo I'm posting today is a view from inside the house during the latest storm - last Thursday.  The contrast is interesting to me.  Snow re-covering the yew outside and the German ivy thriving in the kitchen window inside.