New Signs of Life in the Garden

Tuesday 29 April 2008 - Filed under Gardens

New leaves are unfurling every day here in my Portland garden. I’m hoping one more sunny weekend will coax the rest of the garden into fully leafing out. I was out of town for a few days, and returned to find some new developments.

Tulip Spring Green

I don’t keep many tulips anymore, since their lingering foliage wears out its welcome in my yard, but I keep the spring greens. They seem get a little smaller and bloom a little later every year. I hate to cut them out of the yard because they last so much longer in the ground, but when I do, the flowers get all wild and splayed out in charming disarray immediately after cutting. See this one, cut just an hour ago:

Disporum Green Giant

The disporum I bought at the nursery last month is in bloom. Meanwhile, the one I planted last year is still working on putting up leaves

Ornamental Rhubarb

When I planted this ornamental rhubarb last year, I didn’t realize how red the leaves are at first.

Fern fiddleheads

I like to wait until the absolute last moment to cut back the ferns, when the fiddleheads are visible, but not so tall that I risk clipping them when cutting back last year’s foliage. I caught this one at the perfect time, I only had to go about a week in the awkward haircut phase.

Fritillaria meleagris

I was pleasantly surprised to come across the fritillaria meleagris I planted 8 years ago, and thought I’d lost long ago.

Oscar wants to play

It is warm enough that Oscar wants to play fetch rather than standing by the door shivering.

This is the time of year where the garden seems full of promise. If anything is going to underperform or disappoint, you wouldn’t know it at the end of April. I’m looking forward to the whole garden coming together all full and lush, rather than seeking out individual plants here or there. Seems like the winter lasts forever sometimes.

2008-04-29  »  megan