Just My Opinion - by Mary Kilen
Spring Showers Bring More Flowers
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been watching my perennials start to grow in my flower beds for months now. They have survived the cold, snow, wind and more with their own version of optimism. I have worried about how the early growth would affect them and truthfully, I’m not sure what to expect this spring and summer when it comes time for them to bloom.
This past weekend I finally got out and cleaned out my back flower bed. Usually, I do a good cleaning in the fall, but with my foot in a cast that wasn’t possible. Once I got the cast off, I had the chance to clean out the front flower bed and did some long overdue weeding around my first year planted day lilies along the driveway. I just didn’t make it to the back flower bed before the first snow fell in October.
I cannot believe how much all of the perennials have grown now that we’ve gotten warmer weather and some much needed rain. I’ve also gotten a better idea of what I might have lost over the winter. It looks like I will need to replace one of the day lilies. That’s okay. I want to add a few more to the end of the row to come further up the driveway this year. Last year was a test run for me.
It looks like there are two that may have been lost in the front flower bed. I wish I could say that’s a surprise, but it seems like I’ve replaced at least a couple each year for the past few years.
The dysfunctional side of my back flower bed seems to have done better this year than most. I’m only going to be replacing one or two back there as well.
I really wanted to stop at one of the greenhouses last weekend, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to plant any new perennials for several days. I’ve kept them in the garage before, but I decided to put it off for at least another week.
I love wandering through the greenhouses. I look for my traditional favorites and then just spend time trying to decide what new varieties I want to try for annuals. Last year I found some great new choices, but did I write down what they were? No.
Meanwhile, I also spent time last weekend mowing the grass in the back yard. Poor Buddy was starting to walk around with that unhappy body language because the grass was getting too tall.
I must be out of shape to start the season because I had to take a break while mowing the lawn. I’m putting it down to the fact that it was also very tall and still somewhat wet.
Dale and I discussed the front yard, but decided it didn’t need to be mowed yet over the weekend.
I’m guessing that after a couple of days of rain and then predicted warmer days that mowing will be in my future this coming weekend.
I’m not going to lie, though. If we get some of those nice warm temperatures this weekend, I’m going to want to go for a motorcycle ride. I’m also going to be really itching to go get some new perennials to plant in the flower beds and take a peek at some of the annuals to get an idea of what I want to do this year. Also true, I might end up picking up some of those as well. It’s a good thing I have a nice table and rolling cart to store them in the garage until I’m ready to put them in the dirt.