It's WARM!!!

It's also RAINING.  But that's okay.  Somehow I miraculously managed to get out between showers and pig out at the nursery:

I then mucked off the porch-- old branches, Christmas lantern, fake tree knocked down by the wind, empty pots, etc. I washed out and filled the doorway containers with Green Mountain boxwood (which I hope to keep in there) and some sweet violets.

I also did some bed cleanup for the first time this year-- yes, April 3, but it has been so, so cold I didn't want to touch it.  I'm still waiting for things like hosta to start coming up.  Forsythia still haven't bloomed around here. My roses are pushing buds, and I plan to start pruning and I'll fertilize with my usual wide-scatter Osmocote when I get the dead leaves and fallen stalks out.

In HAPPY NEWS, I arranged for edging, mulching, and dead shrub removal, hopefully in the next week or so.  Around $1500 for the above with about 15 yards of mulch.  It's a business I've worked with before and the guy seems really pleasant and knowledgeable, so I'm hoping it will turn out well. It's a lot of clams but with my working full time, I just don't have the time or the oomf.

Here's one of my containers:

And here's the nemisia and violets I added on the left, which never matches the right for some reason-- the crocuses are much later, 3 feet away:

And the still sleeping, still not cleaned up side garden, with the crooked dogwood and the Otto Luykens laurel I plan to replace and baby like anything with burlap in the winter:

Pure potential, right?  

With me you get your earthy, grungy, realistic photo, complete with hoses and plastic pots and everything. I think "keeping it real" is valued these days and Gosh, I'm good at that.

PS I saw my first worm of spring today!

It's Still Snowing

It is, you know.

I am amused by my last post (March 5th) because I can't remember writing it at all.  That's why I blog.  'Cause I FORGET STUFF.

I have decided to add headings.  I'm taking an online class with a Kindle textbook and I have decided blatant labeling is the merciful way to reference stuff. So:

PLANT CHOICE-- PORCH

I retract the fothergilla, by the way.  It's going to be Ruby Spice Clethra, which I suspect will be less finicky and will have (we hope) a wonderful scent we're eating lunch or dinner out there in the summer. $29 for a 3 gallon plant at Highland Gardens.

WINTER DAMAGE

Took a brief tour of the battlefield when it was 70 degrees last week. (It's now 28, and did I mention, snowing?)  The Encore Autumn Twist Azaleas look dead, but the scratch test suggests they aren't.  The compacta hollies in the south bed gave up the ghost, all three.  The magnolias (big Edith Bogue, spindly Sweetbay) seem to have come through pretty well. Confirmed to go are the hollies, the lamented Otto Luykens laurel which has looked awful since last winter, and the fire-blighted Golden Raindrops crab (sniff). I am also taking out the kerria, which is a pain in the ass and not a good choice for the high visibility spot it is occupying.  I am not sure the little deutzia I bought ever took.  They look awfully dead.

REMEMBER THIS IN FALL

FYI my witchhazels bloomed the first or second week in March-- late.  They smell DIVINE.  I need to strip off the old, hanging leaves, because they bloom/look much better on the branches I stripped.

PAYING FOR HELP

I am getting estimates on help with mulching, removing dead stuff, and edging.  My first quote came in at over $2K, which is more than I want to spend on something I feel I should have the moral fiber to do myself. They estimated 20 yards of mulch-- yoiks.  My kind husband pointed out, wouldn't it be nicer to do the fun stuff versus the heavy work of edging and mulching? (I'm also thinking he wouldn't mind getting out of mulching. Also, my daughter broke up, and usually we have a boyfriend in the spring to help.  I'll tell her we're having to hire it out this year.  No, I won't tell her that.)

GARDEN PLANNING-- FRONT

Other than asking them to cut an additional 10"-1' edge to widen the beds, planting my usual little cluster of sweet annuals at the front steps, and replacing the kerria with Ruby Spice, I don't anticipate doing much.

GARDEN PLANNING-- NORTH SIDE FRONT

This is kind of a glorious mess right now.  The poor Cherry Laurel has to come out.  Not sure what to replace it with.  Something evergreen and shade tolerant. Still mourning the Laurel, which I loved.  This bed needs to be simplified and reorganized but I'm not sure that's this spring's effort.  Of course I will put in the usual snaps and salvia.

GARDEN PLANNING-- STONE PATIO

This is going to be the really fun bit.  I have hesitated a bit on the back yard, since it is overlooked by the employee entrance of a nursing home (lovely, eh?), but we did build our rather marvelous bit of stone patio finally and I am eager to make it wonderful.  Besides, when the various evergreens grow up, it will be pretty private.  For the south side under the still-small zelkova, I want to do pools of deutzia interspersed with Sweet Drift roses. Could tuck some white bleeding heart near the as yet tiny tree canopy. As mentioned, I bought some little deutzias last year but they never got beyond pathetic.  I could try again this year with larger plants and better soil prep, though of course I don't want to run afoul of the tree.

On the north side, I need to plant some ground covers to be (a) beautiful and (b) hold the soil which tends to wash over on that side.  I also need to install some edging.  So many great things to choose from-- having trouble deciding :) I wonder if it would look best with some deutzia tucked on that side for balance, mixed in with say, Rozanne geranium or an evergreen type groundcover.  Need to tuck in some stepping stones so I can get to the hose.  And I do want to slide in a daphne for fragrance.

To wit: