These beautiful green buds from a Siberian Iris was a welcome visitor this Easter Sunday. After nearly six hard months of winter, this was a lovely sight.
Temps are in the 50s for the next few days and much of the snow has melted - all but the front of my house which faces north and still has lots of compacted snow. So today, I got out the shovel and moved the snow around to sunnier locations. I'm sure my neighbors were wondering what the hell I was doing shoveling the grass and garden beds. I'm just getting a jump start on gardening people!I was out with Mommy's Little Helper who watched me shovel while she skated around in her new inline skates she received for her birthday. It was a great morning to be outside - the sun was shining, the sun was clear and it instantly uplifted my spirits. I was surprised to see a Red Cross truck driving around our neighborhood again - I'm sure they were checking to see if there were any people working on our dike and were offering beverages and treats. How nice of them to come by on Easter ...
Anyway, here's some of the things I found underneath all that snow ....
This is one of my geraniums.
I believe this is a pink columbine?!?!!? Regrettably, I did not mark my plants last fall and I planted SO MANY new things and now I am lost as to what and where I planted. This is atypical of me and I am so frustrated! I think back to September when I would normally do this and I was so sick with my gallbladder. So that's probably why I neglected this garden chore. Oh well - it does add an element of surprise to spring ...
I haven't had much experience with grasses. This is one of my prairie grasses and not sure - do I cut this down even more. Do I wait for new growth to come and then do away with this?
9 comments:
Happy Spring Beth! I have lots of surprises coming up too! If I don't figure out what they are when they come up, I'll just wait until they bloom. I love surprises!
You can cut your grass down about 5 or 6 inches before new growth starts. I try to do it before the new growth starts so the new blades don't get trimmed accidentally. I've used string trimmers on large clumps of ornamental grasses.
Glad you survived the winter - looks like it's still pretty chilly in your neck of the woods!
Whoo-hoo! green stuff. So glad for you. I had to laugh at you moving the snow to help it melt...only a gardener can understand. :-)
Happy Easter!
Well I'm picturing you shoveling that snow off the garden. Your neighbors probably thought you have lost your ever loving mind!
I know you have to be excited to see some new green sprouting.
Well you should be pleasantly surprised at your garden this year. I have a couple of plants that have come up and I still don't know what they are. Surprise! Surprise!
I laughed in self recognition; I've shovelled the snow to the melted areas before too. Our snow has been reduced to those little piles next to the driveway that are the last to go, and a little bit tucked behind the evergreens. Isn't it great to see some fresh green? It looks like the siberian iris are just laughing at the ice and snow.
Hi Beth,
Great to see spring slowly arriving up your way, especially after all the recent flooding.
Isn't it great to find those signs of life again after such a hard winter? It's very gratifying, and yes that's a columbine you have coming up, and if you say it's pink, then it must be! :-)
We have a huge stand of Porcupine grass and we always cut it down to about 4" before the new growth starts and that seems to work for us.
Do you have spring bulbs to look forward to? Ours are starting to go great guns and the crocus have been lovely so far....
Linda: thanks for the tip on cutting down. Yesterday it was in the 60s and it will be 65 again today. Love the warmer weather ...
Connie: I knew SOMEBODY would understand my madness - and it was worth it. Every inch of snow was gone within a day.
Susie: My neighbors have seen me in pouring rain with my camera and probably have seen my backside way too many times! All for the love of gardening! :O)
Northern Shade: The iris has more company as of yesterday - I saw lots of other things coming up too. I almost did a cartwheel when I saw all the green!
IVG: Your advice on the grasses closely matched what Garden Girl said too - 4-6 inches sounds about right. Glad I got the columbine right too!
No bulbs for me .... the rabbits completely decimated them a few years ago and I'm too chicken to try them again, which is too bad because I really do like tulips and some of the others ...
I is nice to see your garden growing again! These 60F days are too nice...
I admit to clearing a top layer of snow of garden beds in spring...I can't plant the peas in the snow (or can I?).
The other garden habit is pacing around the house with a camera catching each plant or bug as it first appears - neighbors must wonder sometimes.
Beth,
Too bad about the bunnies getting your bulbs! I've heard a lot of people say they eat their tulips, but for some reason they leave ours alone ... I think it's probably the proximity of the daffodils. Nothing pesters daffodils, not even deer! So maybe you could at least have some of those in your garden?
Chris: I know we shouldn't wish this with the floods and all around here, but a nice light rain would be really cleansing wouldn't it?!?!? Everything still looks pretty brown around here.
IVG: Daffodils huh?!?!? With all these lovely pictures of them and crocus I might have to give it the college try next year! I especially like the fact that the deer won't eat it.
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