Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

The Garden In Early Spring


We're almost a week into spring and thankfully, though we've had a few rainy days, we've had sunshine and blue sky!  I decided to get out on Sunday afternoon with rare 60 degree weather in March, and do a cutting back of my spirea, and get the leaves out of the garden.

This photo was taken last week but it shows how the garden had a lot of leaves in it and the spirea by my lamppost needed a good cutting back.  Its branches were all twisted together and there were insect 'pods' on some of the branches.  We think they were some kind of moth, and I didn't want them hatching out in my garden in the warm spring sunshine.  


 This photo from Sunday shows you the spirea cut back and the leaves all gone!  A friend brought over his leaf blower and really got the garden clear of leaves in a way that never happens just with a rake!

We brought my table and chairs out to the garden and I sat in the sunshine reading.

Kamryn was at our house and was skating on the driveway.  She picked one of the crocus growing in the garden and brought it to me.

 They have such pretty color patterns on them!



What do I spy in my garden, that's not supposed to be there?


This is Eleanor Dashwood, one of our Speckled Sussex hens.  Her sister Marianne, was elsewhere.

I took some video for my friend Jane, and I'm sharing that here.


The hydrangea in my cottage garden is a mophead variety.  It produces blooms on old wood.  Some years the weather is bad and the old wood stalks die.  Then I get lovely green leaves and no blooms.  This year the stalks are still green (I scraped a few to check) and I should have a bush full of blooms!  This makes me very happy.

The roses need a little pruning today, and I can see my Bleeding Heart coming up, and also lots of Feverfew pushing through the soil.  I'm continuing to plan for some plants to be thinned out of this garden and to bring a few other varieties in.  I need Salvia, and some Hollyhocks, Cosmos.  I must get some Zinneas, too.

I know some of you still have snow melting where you are, and if so I hope this post encourages you that spring really is here and that before too long, you also will be see your plants popping up in the garden!  

Some of you in the southern states and England will likely have many spring flowers in bloom already!  I love seeing your photos of your gardens!  

Tell us in the comments just what is blooming in your garden, or is getting ready to bloom!

4 comments:

  1. ☺️🙃 daffodils along the foundation are up with zero buds, and two dandelions and that’s all. The worst is not the snow; the worst are the slabs of ice five and six inches thick (and more) beneath the snow, I have never seen anything like it. It’s a mess up here. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes down.

    Your garden and your hens are all looking fine. I can tell how much you tidied and thought that you were very wise to get any evidence of bugs out now. Do the hens help with that?

    ReplyDelete
  2. My hygrangeas are full of leaf and I hope they will be equally full of blossoms later. At the moment my garden is full of primroses, pansies, pulmonaria, and a lovely pulsatilla. Things are definitely looking good now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A chicken named Marianne? Positively darling...right out of a children's storybook!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. So lovely to spend time outside. We have a beautiful sunny day today and the garden beckons....but without pretty hens..!

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to Creekside Cottage - a place of Hospitality, Friendship and Encouragement!

Information Friday

Tim and I had a great time visiting our daughter Emma and her family. This birthday crown has seen a lot of heads this past week, but I had ...