In which spring threatens and winter returns
It feels like I missed winter this year. Not much snow has fallen in the Denver area, it's true. But with two small exceptions, all the snow that has fallen have been while I was in Alabama or South Carolina.
I was home the week of February27, and as the weather was decidedly spring-like, I spent some quality time in the garden. The herb garden is cleaned out and top dressed. There is ample room for a new planting of basil, and I intend to add leeks and garlic this year. I'm also considering hops. The last 16 square feet of the herb garden is now dug, and as I had no other available room for them, the Princess Irene tulips that I purchased in November have been bedded there. Not a period variety, but I will overplant the bulbs with something more suitable to the theme of the garden.
The irises have all be heavily watered, including those transplanted from Chris' grandmother's house in Kansas. I am guardedly optomistic about those irises; they seem to have suffered from the dry fall and winter. Enough seem to be viable that I am sure that there will be representative individuals. The front iris bed seems to be ready to leap to life at the slightest provocation; there are many tiny green points emerging from the leaf litter and mulch in that bed.
I am a bit worried about the bulbs that Chris and I planted under the mailbox last fall. The yellow rocuses emerged first, and although there were a lot of them, the blooms are tiny. A result, I suppose, of the dry seasons, although we have been wathering on warm days since Christmas. There are now a few tulips poking up, but the purple crocus seem to be missing in action. Time will tell.
The following week - last week - I spent in Myrtle Beach, SC., where the crabapples are beginning to bloom, the jonquils are in full swing, and the garden centers are loaded with early-season bedding plants. This of course plants my feet firmly in spring.
You can then imagine the enthusiasm with which I greeted the news that snow was in this past weekend's forcast. The lack of enthusiasm, rather. Although I have missed snow, the time has passed and now I am ready for digging in the dirt. The snow taking down the gazebo last fall was a blow but we have salvaged the legs for a new gazebo, one covered not with canvas but with wisteria and honeysuckle and red trumpet vine planted in large self-watering pots at the corners. In August, perhaps. Today the snow lay in a 3" blanket across the yard, and so I'll have to content myself with gardening catalogues.
I was home the week of February27, and as the weather was decidedly spring-like, I spent some quality time in the garden. The herb garden is cleaned out and top dressed. There is ample room for a new planting of basil, and I intend to add leeks and garlic this year. I'm also considering hops. The last 16 square feet of the herb garden is now dug, and as I had no other available room for them, the Princess Irene tulips that I purchased in November have been bedded there. Not a period variety, but I will overplant the bulbs with something more suitable to the theme of the garden.
The irises have all be heavily watered, including those transplanted from Chris' grandmother's house in Kansas. I am guardedly optomistic about those irises; they seem to have suffered from the dry fall and winter. Enough seem to be viable that I am sure that there will be representative individuals. The front iris bed seems to be ready to leap to life at the slightest provocation; there are many tiny green points emerging from the leaf litter and mulch in that bed.
I am a bit worried about the bulbs that Chris and I planted under the mailbox last fall. The yellow rocuses emerged first, and although there were a lot of them, the blooms are tiny. A result, I suppose, of the dry seasons, although we have been wathering on warm days since Christmas. There are now a few tulips poking up, but the purple crocus seem to be missing in action. Time will tell.
The following week - last week - I spent in Myrtle Beach, SC., where the crabapples are beginning to bloom, the jonquils are in full swing, and the garden centers are loaded with early-season bedding plants. This of course plants my feet firmly in spring.
You can then imagine the enthusiasm with which I greeted the news that snow was in this past weekend's forcast. The lack of enthusiasm, rather. Although I have missed snow, the time has passed and now I am ready for digging in the dirt. The snow taking down the gazebo last fall was a blow but we have salvaged the legs for a new gazebo, one covered not with canvas but with wisteria and honeysuckle and red trumpet vine planted in large self-watering pots at the corners. In August, perhaps. Today the snow lay in a 3" blanket across the yard, and so I'll have to content myself with gardening catalogues.
posted by Melanie Unruh-Bays at
9:07 PM
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