In a sign that spring is not too far away, the morning sun has started to peek over the wall.
Every morning, weather permitting, I like to go outside with Zephyr and Clio to assess the damage and look for signs that winter is finally coming to an end. The cold-hardy jasmine looks a little beat up, but I’m pretty sure it will come back strong. Last year, it had a minor scale infection, most likely passed on by the climbing hydrangea, which has struggled with it for years. This year, we want to be vigilant and catch it early. It’s easy to get caught up in the exuberance of spring without realizing that things are falling apart.
“There will be no scale and no snakes, either, especially of the flying variety.” — Clio
Zephyr has retired from active garden duty and now prefers to sit in the sun on the deck.
The hellebores are always dirty and bedraggled in mid-March, but they are tenacious. I feel like we don’t spend enough time thinking about the way some plants basically replace themselves with a new body every year, probably because it would make us too jealous.
The winter aconite have flowered.
And the camellia are ready for their big show. For the first time, we have buds on all three plants (white, red, and pink).
Last year, we had to cut back the dogwood to make sure the camellia had enough light. It has responded well, as you can see from the new growth on its inner branches.
Our potted dwarf conifers also seem to be doing well, even the one that almost lost a big branch in a snowstorm two winters ago.
I thought the branch was lost, but I taped it back together and it’s held. I am now a tree surgeon.
Later, in the afternoon, I went back out to chop up a big branch from the birch tree that was lost in the windstorm a few weeks ago. Usually at this time of year, it’s pretty gloomy in the afternoon owing to the low angle of the sun, but today the sun found a gap in the apartment buildings and turned the limbs silver in the (almost) spring light.
Comments