Today was the first day of 2006 for hands and knees weeding!
I pulled out about 90% of the volunteer vinca to give the emerging lilies a better chance to get a healthy start. I gave one of the ornamental grasses a haircut, pulled most of the verbena, and clipped back the chrysanthemums at the sidewalk. I'm addicted to Homestead Purple Verbena, but it isn't perennial in zone 5, so I have to replant it each year.
I brought the bucket of gardening tools upstairs, as well as an unusual device for gathering clippings. It's a tube of plastic with a bottom, and has a spring that spirals from the bottom to the top. When you aren't using it, it flattens down, and there are loops and toggles so that you can store the container in about a four inch wide space. When I need it, I undo the toggles and it springs up to about the size of a garbage can. I seriously overfilled it with grass stems, but the load was light enough not to do any damage.
I used the Christmas wreaths to protect a Peace rose for the remainder of the winter. I removed the wreaths and pruned the canes back. If we get back down to freezing, I'll have to put a bucket over the rose to protect it.
So.....I've had my first two hours of gardening. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!
