Tug Of War

For the last week at least, as I stroll the ridge top garden I have been making a conscious effort to pick up the fallen branches and clear out the remnants of the taller perennials woody stalks. The winter did a good job of making a lot of it fade into the the forest floor. Plenty of debris still remains. It looks ratty and some of the newly emerging greenery has to work harder to push through. There is an acre of ridge top. Progress towards a cleaner wild garden comes incrementally.

The tiny Anemone blanda might be lost if the large flowers didn't shout above the brown forest floor.



















This stretch of hillside along the path was cleaned by a focused determination. Stacks of four foot long dried stalks were cut out and placed elsewhere. That stretch of green lawn looking stuff on the upper left of the path is a thick drift of the Spanish Bluebells, Hyacinthoides hispanica.













Other areas on this mountain need my attention too. In the last two days I spent quite a bit of time with a machete in what will one day be my own garden. I attacked the steep blackberry covered slope directly below the highway uncovering numerous native Hydrangea arborescens. More light and air will help these Hydrangea flourish. Then I flattened the thick aster and elderberry stands along the edges of the sunny utility valley.

All the while I am scouring the forest floor looking to see what may be coming up. The first Purple Violet, Viola sororia has bloomed at my place.

















Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum looks deceptively like a Trillium when it is first coming up. Closer inspection reveals the more numerous leaf divisions.















The wild forest needs my attention too. I resist the urge to start gathering up the tons of fallen branches. That would take forever, but I sure want to. In the wild forest I should just learn and enjoy.

The single flower of the Bloodroot looks like it may bloom for all of half a day.
















Many of the closed flowers of the Forsythia Fog the day before had already shed their petals by late afternoon today.













The Hepatica, Anemone acutiloba is just the opposite. More and more flowers are constantly added.













In plants where the flowers are beginning to fade the new leafs flush out.













The roadside vegetable garden is ready to go. To get there I walk through the upper sunny utility valley and that place is a mess. With all that sun the perennials grow extra tall. The stacks of debris from last years hard core tree trimming are piled along the edges. It would be nice if something was done to tidy up that area.