Remember the picture of the meadow? Scroll down and take a look at it, because I just spent an hour pulling most of those daisies out of the garden.
I’ve probably waited too long. I can see seeds on the sidewalk, so no doubt the daisies will be back again next Spring. I’ve also ripped out the volunteer Dame’s rocket, and cut back some of the iris stalks.
The ground is sere. We have had the threat of isolated thunderstorms, but no rain has materialized. I have to water the container garden daily, and I may need to consider watering twice a day. The raccoons are sucking the bird bath dry.
Before I can start dividing the iris, I’ll have to run the sprinkler. The ground is so dry that trying to lift the plants now would harm them. It’s so dry that I’m not getting the roots of the daisies, so I’ll have to go back and root them out once I’ve watered.
It’s interesting how much cooler the garden feels now that it’s not overcrowded. Now the lilies and Peace rose aren’t fighting for some sun, and the miniature day lilies will be more visible. I planted Homestead purple verbena, and I hope that we’ll see a carpet of purple again this year. I’ll add purple fountain grass for height and drama.
Back to the garden to finish up, and move all the dead plants!
Dear God, if it’s not too much trouble, Sir, could we have a little rain, please??

I am SO proud of myself. Each year I buy plants, and I loose some of them because I don’t get them planted within a reasonable period. This year, as in past years, I fell prey to that “I HAVE to have one (or three) of those” compulsion, and I filled up what passes for a trunk in our SUV.
I unloaded the plants, and some of them went directly into containers for my mother, and others were left in the garage, temporarily, or so I thought. They were there at least a week before I moved them outside so they wouldn’t die of lack of sunshine.

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As the ladies of my quilting bee left on Friday night, I heard one of them say that it was like walking through a meadow. A friend took this picture of the flowers at the sidewalk a week ago. The ox-eye daisies are all volunteers. I grew them in the center box of the herb garden on the north side of the house, and the chipmunks felt they

I was driving home last Thursday, and came around the corner onto the street where we live. There are subdividion signs on either side of that corner, and the landscapers had decorated them with banks of yellow tulips.
It has been incredibly windy for the past few days, and the tulips on the north side of the street had been totally stripped of their blooms. Those on the south side had a six foot block sign protecting them from the wind, and were still blooming.
As we traveled to Iowa and back, we saw similar examples of the wind’s power. I’m ready for that part where “April sighed, and said goodbye, and along came pretty little May!”

I suppose that telling you I was on my hands and knees for more than five hours yesterday may create an unfortunate image in your mind, but it brought me a lot of satisfaction. It was a glorious day, and I spent that time weeding!
In just two weeks our Red Hat Society ladies will be coming for a brunch. I’ve started making lists mentally of what has to be done before they troop up the sidewalk. Of course, part of that has to be the preparation of the gardens.

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The apple trees, and pear trees have been beautiful this year, covered with masses of blossoms. We had quite a heat spell early in April, but the last 10 days of the month it’s been unusually cool. The tulips are gorgeous, and the lilacs have been holding their bloom unusually long.
Today, the wind is whipping the fruit trees, and we have petal snow.
I noticed, as we returned home today that the lilies of the valley under the birch trees have materialized! I think they must be easily six to eight inches tall, and there was no sign of them a few days ago.

It’s time for violets and lilacs!
Our yard is full of violets. There are places where it’s only violets! We have traditional purple violets, and white ones and pale blue ones. There’s one stretch of what is laughingly called “lawn” that I’ll have to ask DH not to mow until the violets are gone.
The viburnum growing where the drive meets the road is in bloom, and the scent is heavenly! The cold/cool weather has prolonged the tulip season. I’ll have to make note of where they are so I don’t kill anything off when I reorganize the gardens this summer. We still have a few daffodils, and the clematis is trying to work it’s way up the arbor. I’ll have to go out to set up the twine that encourages it on it’s way to the top.
I forgot to check my winter sown seeds, and the heat got them all one fine day. I’ve just about decided where I want tomatoes and lettuces to go….and I’d better get that lettuce in NOW!
YEA, SPRING!!!!

Or, she’s getting ready to. We’ve had unusually warm weather for April. I’m sure the Cubs are thrilled to be playing in warm weather, but the results for some of our plants could be disastrous.
I see that tulips I planted last fall are up and ready to bloom, but today we are supposed to slip into the 50s as a cold front passes, and by the end of the week, we’ll be flirting with freezing weather at night. I hope the tulips can deal with it. They never last long here, so I’d like to have at least ONE season of bloom.

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Chipmunks are the bane of my warm weather existence. They taunt my cat and eat the tulip bulbs. They filch my crocus bulbs and deposit them for future meals. The following two pictures are of crocus that have been deftly removed from my gardens and replanted along a path next to our property. I was out walking and the blooms caught my eye.
I guess at heart, the chippies are exterior decorators. They wanted to share my gardens with others, the little buggers!

I’ve had the chance to be out in my garden once this year, but tomorrow…..ah, tomorrow…..I’m going to have the entire morning out there.
I still have some clean up to do from last fall. I cleaned out about half of the garden at the sidewalk last week. I want to finish that work, so that the daffodils and tulips will be able to look their best this spring.
I was checking out the herb garden this afternoon. I need to cut back chives, feverfew, oregano and yarrow. There are two chrysanthemums in that garden that need to be pruned, along with the winter savory, the sage, and a clematis that climbs an arbor at the end of the garden.

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