What's Blooming?

After a winter hiatus, I am baaaack! I attended my local garden club meeting this past week, and was reminded of the importance of keeping a gardening journal.

I strolled through the gardens this morning and spotted a few things of interest.

What's Blooming

I counted two lonely crocuses and a few Siberian squill. However, the tulips and daffodils are well on their way.

What Needs Work

Winter wreaked havoc on my newly planted beds. The spruce tree bed suffered the most "damage" with lots of heaving. I planted this area last September so root systems only had a couple of months to settle in. And the snow and moisture compacted the soil around the plants so I am left with sprouting mounds of plants. It's amazing how little soil is left (or looks like is left). One of my first spring tasks will be to add more soil in this bed to protect the roots and even out this bed.

The back part of this bed is in the low-lying area of the yard. Heavy clay soils and poor draining create puddles and soggy soil for most of the spring season. With my rubber boots on, I tried stepping in this bed and nearly got stuck. I had visions of childhood and losing a rubber boot in the thick mud. Thankfully, I was able to pull out before getting sucked in. I planted water-loving plants in this area (Sweet Joe-Pye Weed eupatorium cannabinum 'Pkenum' and a dappled willow Salix integra shrub). Hopefully they will will appreciate the semi-lake conditions...?

Good Bones

While examining the shrubs to determine which ones I need to prune, I admired my front shrub combination. I planted these six or seven years ago, and I have to admit that I find the combination is quite pleasing.