As If It Is Spring

The not rain turned into rain during the night. There was less snow on the ground when I woke up than when it got dark the night before. An almost 60 degree day with neither rain nor not rain melted the rest. I got busy before the next round of wet arrives tonight.

At work this week a whole batch of red twig dogwoods fell out of the ground and followed me home. As best I can tell this is the variegated Cornus alba 'Elengantissima'. The mother plants were in a tiny narrow bed between the driveway and a wall. I thinned out the rooted side branches to give the other plants in the tiny bed more room. They spent the night heeled into the dung pile since I wasn't sure when I would be able to plant.

I couldn't just throw them away. So I brought them home and found places to plant them. There were seventeen rooted cuttings that were planted in ten locations. Six were planted in the garden becoming.

Four were planted along the scenic byway above the chimney and just out the mowing zone. If they do well this could look sharp in winters to come.

It was time. The grasses in the roadside flower bed got cut down. Perhaps this will force spring to really arrive. One clump was dug, divided and replanted at the far end of Bulbarella's section of the sunny utility meadow. I have been trying to add a bit more structure and flow in there. The grasses are a strong visual presence in the wild Lush that help add some cohesion to it all.

A real garden is beginning to take shape as more and more shrubberies follow me home.

I need to give up the notion that my garden is going to blend in with the forest up here. There will be too many evergreens, too many understory shrubs, too many flowers. One day my garden will stand out like a flower bomb exploded on top of the mountain.

It will have a naturalistic feel and the tall flower meadow will weave its way through the entire thing during the time of the Lush. More native spring ephemerals, particularly trilliums can be added for an earlier beginning to the garden. These things will help blend the garden into its wild surroundings, but it is going to stand out as a garden in the wilderness to people passing by. To bad.

Here it is almost April 1st and we are still in crocus mode. A lot of the daffodils that had sent up flower stalks on schedule have been damaged by all this late winter weathers. The bloom stalks have been bent or frozen. This won't be the best year for daffodils.

This is a time when the theory of more proves it is worth the lust and the effort. On a mountain top covered with blooming annuals, perennials, bulbs, shrubberies and trees, many things will do just fine. When spring does arrive, the bloom will be on.