outside

It was colder today, and overcast. Makes tending the seedlings easier- they just stay shut up in the coldframe house all day, and come in at night. I've started work in the yard. Today cleaned up some of the perennials- cut down the dry stems of turtlehead, salvia, 'autumn joy' sedum and gladiolas. All the old stems, broken up, made a base for spring turning of the compost pile. I shifted about half of that into the moved bin so far. While cleaning up a bit in the beds, noted that most of my chrysanthemums have tiny new shoots- I think I've only lost one. There are red points of new shoots just breaking the surface of peony and turtlehead. Sedums already have some green leaves. I didn't uncover to check the black-and-blue salvia yet. Seedheads on the turtlehead by the garden looked so abundant, I stripped them off and scattered in a new spot in the front yard, just pressed into the soil a bit. Maybe they will sprout.

The trees all have buds, there are plenty on my forsythia and hydrangeas. I keep thinking the hydrangea don't look that much bigger than when I planted them, until I stand next to it- they're almost up to my shoulder! Perhaps next year will grow taller than I am. That's something to make me smile.

Holly bush and euonymus shrubs are glowing with green health. I changed my practice on tending my shrubs- what little there is to do of that. I break up sticks that fall in the yard and mulch under the shrubs with that, let them break down to feed the soil, and give extra water through winter (when there aren't any annuals in the garden needing it). The holly bore tons of red berries this season- and our yard was just full of birds monday and tuesday. Flock of robins and starlings, but I also saw a flicker and at least two cedar waxwings. They were all in and out of the holly, cleaned it bare and now the yard is quiet again. I stood and watched them from the dining room window, just above the holly. I don't know if I've ever seen a cedar waxwing so close up before.