tidied up the liriope today

Half the row on the lower slope, had mostly healthy-looking older leaves, not much new growth yet though. I felt safe putting those trimmings in the compost. The plants on the upper section (where the ground is higher and flat) on the other hand, looked pretty awful- lots of dried, dead foliage, lots of rust. But when I cut that back (and threw away), there was nice new foliage coming up!

I got a better photo of that ostrich fern fiddlehead, by putting my finger next to it so the camera knew where to focus.

I'm really liking the look of the younger St john's wort plant. Maybe I should cut the older one back hard, to have a flush of new smaller leaves like this.

I cleaned up around the hellebores some more. Meaning, I put my hands between the slightly larger leaves of second and third-year seedlings, and yanked first-year ones out by the handful. There's just too many. Now room for the slightly older ones to grow without competition, then I can move them to new locations out from under the parents' skirts, or perhaps take to the plant swap. The young plants are in foreground here.

stinkin' babies

Year before last, when our big maples on the second sideyard were cut down, I moved a bunch of plants in a panic. Including the stinking hellebores, which didn't survive. Well, now I have a few new ones! Got from another gardener who was taking spring divisions.

I put two near the ostrich ferns (the smaller ones are coming up! but my photo was blurry)

and two on the other side of a tree from the solomon's seal

Hope for lots of babies in a year or two so I can spread 'em around! So far the deer have not munched my hostas yet- coming up strong now! - since I scattered the irish spring again. This is one of the blues (ignore the bird drip and the chewed on leaf, and it's perfectly lovely)

I peeked into the makeshift cages around saplings- I still have a few redbuds, just barely leafing out now, and the two spicebush also, and the one pawpaw (which I'm not as thrilled about since I discovered I don't actually like the taste of pawpaw- but one of my kids does so at least someone would appreciate the fruit).

Here's a photo of the mayapples- and the few I dug up and moved over under the edge of rhododendrons, did just fine too!

I'm also pleased to find a few seedlings of joe pye 'chocolate' around the backyard- happy to let them grow where they are, right now. Anxiously watching to see when the taller, regular joe pye comes up- those I moved in a hurry late fall because I thought our fence was going to get built.

But sadly, it looks like two shrubs I was hoping would do well on this damp, lower slope, are finally dying. The inkberry and the northern bayberry. I can't believe how lush they looked, back when I first bought them. Just last year the inkberry was like this- hard to notice at all- and now it's all bare stems. Either the deer are eating it down to nothing, or it's sick. Both of them. I'm kind of giving up on them now.

Another casulty of winter- it seems my rosemary is dead in its pot.

Today all I did outside was plant the four stinkin' hellebores, dig up a few dandelions from the front lawn (their numbers are definitely fewer, takes me far less time to get them cleared out now), and pull some weeds in the back. 

I broke all the dry monarda stems into short pieces for composting, but found they make very brittle, sharp fragments- got a few nasty little splinters- so I scattered them across the empty garden beds. For mulch, and maybe a deterrent to the squirrels and my cat. Seems to help, so far. It's been a few days and nothing has disturbed the layer. Trimming grass around the garden beds and pulling weeds in them, which I toss right back on top for more mulch layer. To at least keep the soil covered and a tad fed, while the garden rests. And to keep things tidy. A lot of the bricks are leaning, I need to straighten them out with rock or shims wedged under, but really what I should have done is dig a small trench, set them on a bed of gravel. Probably I should still do that, reset them all properly, but I just haven't got the energy for that kind of work yet.

Lovage

I shouldn't have worried that the second plant was not up yet- it is now! I put some in deviled eggs today.

I cut back the rue and scattered its trimmings in places I want the deer to stay away (in case the pungent smell actually helps with that). Two of the cuttings I moved in past years are still here- but all the small ones I put on the second sideyard didn't make it through winter (or even fall, now that I think of it). 

There's a few small seedlings under the parent plant that are starting their second season now. I think this coming fall or next spring I will move them to a new spot.

Rhubarb is bigger! Maybe this year I will cut some for a pie.

Yesterday

I just did two of the many tasks on my list, and it was enough to wear me out again, sigh. Because I actually mowed half the lawn a few days before that, which got me really beat. Cleaned up a bit in the rear perennial beds- cut out older leaves from under the hellebores, and cut back all the dead stems of monarda from previous season. Pulled up some volunteer viburnums and japanese honeysuckle. Noticed that my spring beauties are a bit more numerous this year, and the mayapples are coming up!

Admired my little patch of lysimachia purpurea- it's hard to notice unless you look close- but the leaves do have a nice delicate blue-green edged with red. I hope these spread some!

the arum has got nice and thick

I love seeing the new leaves unfold on the oakleaf hydrangea. They make me think of candles when the light hits them in late afternoon. Hope next year the plant will be tall enough I can remove the fencing that's keeping deer from eating it.

From the kitchen window or deck, can actually see the younger euonymus shrubs I moved back there, finally filling in (to the right and behind the hydrangea). There's three more on the other side of that tree, but they're much smaller- eaten more by the deer, or don't get quite as much sun I think.

Under the panicle hydrangea, rumex is coming up again-

All the shade areas have yellow salvias growing back in thick and fast. I've gotten a bit tired of this plant and started actually pulling it out where it's spreading too far.

I do like seeing how thick the 'autumn joy' sedums come in though

Sad that in the front, I still only have one cranesbill growing in. The other shows no signs of life although when I push aside the mulch there's a little center shoot left, so I hope it can regrow eventually.

Ajuga is showing bright color under the trees- but in some places it's not staying in a tidy area, spreading out into the lawn. Just an opportunity to dig and move some.

indoors

There is nothing much to say when I'm not actually starting a garden for the year. Tending to houseplants and perennials outside is just not as interesting. Well one bit of news is my larger angelwing begonia. It finally got tall enough I took a cutting

and planted it after two weeks in water when roots started showing

This is far less seldom than the smaller angelwing (narrower leaves) which I've taken cuttings to replant in the same pot several times already.

mulching

and mulching. Worked on the second sideyard the other day- pulled mock strawberry out from around the lungwort, hostas and ostrich ferns. I was so pleased to see that the ferns are spreading here-

I know that originally I only planted four or five crowns, there's at least twice that now!

Hosta are already pushing up from the ground. I scattered irish spring shavings around them again hope to deter the deer from visiting

this one already has a leaf starting to unfurl

Also glad to see that my young hollies did well through winter. So with them likewise the hellebores, it works better to transplant them after a year or two of growth.

bay okay

I've been a tad concerned about my little bay leaf tree all winter. Most of its mature leaves got damaged by cold when I left it out too long one day- and they're still brown, crispy or blackened on the edges, some over half the leaf. Today I saw the plant is growing plenty of new young leaves, so I think it will be fine!

a few spring flowers

My camellia is blooming!

First bleeding heart this season 

and some of the older hellebores look great, although I need to go out and trim off the older leaves

more work today

I cleared more weeds, gathered up last years' leaf mulch (and respread it on the empty garden beds), and hauled three buckets of compost up to the front. Fed the daylilies (again, they didn't get much the first time around)

cleared up some and scattered compost over the black-and-blue salvia- no sign of emergence yet but I do see one gladiola spear coming up! and the lamb's ears on that side look particularly nice this spring

Out front I've more or less cleaned up the front perennial and flowerbed (I had to spread the work over two days). Divided a few allium clumps to spread out- I hope I haven't done this at the wrong time and ruined their chance of bloom. They stood up to the disturbance pretty well, haven't wilted much

these two are next to a tulip

Behind them you can see the fat shoots of peonies arising!

I also moved a few young columbines- they look pretty small yet!

To extend the row of older plants- it gives something to look at in the back of the bed when not much is growing yet, and then later when they're done flowering and died back, the plants in front hide the gap

I can tell now what things I do actually matter in the garden- my raised beds that didn't get composted and mulched properly in fall, the ground was hard, not all loose and soft and dark like other springs. I didn't come out and heavily mulch or cover plants against the cold (except the black-and-blue salvia and the lemon balm) and now I can see the usual mulch and leaf cover was enough for most of them. But I lost a few brunnera- here's one that did well regardless

There's only two mums showing new growth so far in the bed, and of the wild geraniums (cranesbill), one has revived, the other nothing growing. If I've lost it, that makes me sad.

Two or three of the clary sage also died, but I have enough left it's okay

My 'espresso' wild geranium in the back near the garden seems okay though

and next to it the hyssop in a container is doing great! 

I can also tell that scattering hair clippings and irish spring soap shavings was keeping the deer from eating too much of my euonymus and hostas. Because in fall I did none of that, and this winter the deer ate back so much of those shrubs against the house they look awful. I'm going to have to trim them back to reshape, and have started scattering deterrents again.

more pics later