There comes a time to everyone when we realize just how few things we actually have full control over. It has been a long time vision of mine to someday experience the perfect spring in the gardens... to that end I edge the beds in the fall and overseed the lawns, I plant hundreds of bulbs and wrap and protect a myriad of shrubs and trees.... but alas, there is little perfection in this spring as in many others...
By the way, to my surprise... that is a magnolia in bloom at this very minute! 84 degrees yesterday and 76 degrees today have that sort of effect on magnolias... where there was no swelling of flower buds two days ago, every magnolia in the place seems like it could burst forward at any moment. We'll chalk this up to the 'good' column, although cooler weather would keep them around longer.
This magnolia is of the soulangiana persuation, although I'm not sure what cultivar it actually is since it was sent mislabeled... 'Lennei' perhaps?
Before I continue with my soliloquy, let me show you a few more magnolias just now coming into bloom... they include, the stellatas...
And 'Wada's Memory'... Simple pleasures is a mid-season that is opening as well, but the blooms were too high up to capture at this point...
So... I would definitely count the magnolias amongst the good... let's skip to the ugly column. Last season's drought absolutely devastated the lawns and the snow load of winter didn't help much either. I over seeded in the fall with 50 lbs of grass seed and I have yet to see a single blade emerge... probably because we are very dry already with most showers missing us... while the early daffodils coming on strongly are in the good column... check out my really sad lawn, which I watered often last season... I suspect much of this is probably snow mold, a fungal infection ....
I would have replaced much of this lawn had I not ended up with surgery scheduled tomorrow and two weeks of pain meds that have caused me to sleep most of the day and night... so I guess we'll count that as the 'bad'. It's amazing how quickly one can lose strength in a situation such as this... I'm really hoping the second surgery a week from tomorrow won't be necessary. On top of it all, I will be missing "The Lion King" at the PAC friday night which I've been looking forward to for months (it's not been a real good two weeks, can you tell?)... but I digress... maybe all that grass seed will germinate yet!
As far as daffodils (this is in the good column for sure), cutting the foliage back by 2/3rds last season hasn't had any negative effects whatsoever... because we had excessive warmth in March and then cold, the foliage grew extremely long and inundated the daylilies planted between the daffodil clumps, necessitating removing some of it much earlier than normal...
...and these are just the early blooms... there are many hundreds more to come...
So there you have it... the good, the bad, and the ugly... I'll close with more good since it really outweighs all the rest... many hellebores are at peak with many more just now preparing to bloom. While a great many additions from last season appear to have died from the drought and the winter, some such as the hepatica are doing well. The jury is still out on many of the epimediums although several are showing some signs of life. I think that the soil settled under the weight of the snow and many crowns were left exposed. It's still early to say regarding the new cypripedium bed, although I have discovered one shoot coming through the pine needle mulch which gives me hope.
It would be great to be in control of it all, but life just doesn't work that way...
Larry
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| Hepatica |
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| Anemone |
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| Hyacinths |
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| A couple nice double hellebores |
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