Did A Little Spring Cleaning

Did a little spring cleaning recently. Tell me why do I leave my perennial bed looking like this all winter? I really should have cleaned it up last fall. Guess I was leaving the seed pods on the echineacas for the birds...yeah, that sounds good!



Really it had more to do with being so busy with online sales and fall craftshows than anything else. Plus I really don't like late fall in my perennial bed...it is a lot duller than spring....the flowers are all dying. We even had an earlier than usual frost for here and the snow was flying, if only briefly on Halloween weekend.


Anyway, I finally got out there and got all the beds cleaned our, cut back and mulched. Even bought some pansies to plant around the tree and in the front porch bed, but if the weather keeps going like it has been, they will be toast before too long.


One nice thing about our early spring and really warm temps is that my echineceas are popping through. They are my favorite flower and it looks like all the varieties have survived another winter. I can't wait til all my flowers come in bloom. I'll be sure to share Mother Natures beauty with you all too!

Until next time....

The Calendar Says...

It's spring! Yippee! And from the looks of things, I have to agree...



The pussy willow tree in my neighbors yard has bloomed and sprouted it's soft little furry buds. I remember as a child rubbing pussy willow buds over my arms...the soft feel was a welcoming sign of spring.



And my rose bushes are already budding! Yeah! These are new bushes from last year and I am pleased to say that they have survived the winter. You never know from one year to the next what will make it.





These irises are just popping up through the mulch. My hubby brought them home from a customers house a few years back. We planted them and last year was the first year that we had blooms on them. Seems like irises need to get a "hold" before they like to share their beauty. Sure hope this year they feel so inclined again to share.






My bee balm is peeking out. Another new addition last year in my new perennial bed and to me as a gardener. I had run out of room for sun loving plants until we added our new sunny perennial bed last year. I am so glad that we did too.






And of course with the warmer temps came a trip to the local nursery to pick up some pansies for my porch pots. They will stay until sometime in June when I will switch over to impatiens as the pansies just don't like my hot sunny front porch then.

It is a beautiful spring day today, sunny and still a little chilly, but I will take it. Enjoy your day.

Until next time....