Gardens Again

60 and overcast, showers predicted. I hope it does rain, we need it.

I guess this is the time of year when gardens take over my mind. We've been mulching every evening this week and are about half done. I'm spring-cleaning in the house, and I suppose you could say we're doing the same outside as we clean up gardens, mulch, and so on. 

There are other things going on in the gardens besides daffodils. They are certainly the star of the show right now, but there are other promising signs of spring too.

Like these hellebores I transplanted last week. Also known as Lenten Roses and Christmas Roses for their tendency to bloom even in cold weather. These were a gift from a friend, and have really made me happy.

My remaining forsythia is outdoing itself again. There are actually a lot of small bushes surrounding the original one, and I am thinking of trying to transplant them in the fall to make a hedge.

Perwinkle, called graveyard vine here because it is so often found in cemeteries, has begun blooming too.

I do enjoy its pretty little blue faces. All too soon I will be battling the gill-over-the-ground vine that overtakes this part of the garden, but for now the periwinkle is queen.

I planted multiplier onions last fall and they are doing well so far. These have another name too--potato onions. And come to think of it, they're also called top-setting onions because they bear small seedheads of sets that can be planted to make more onions. I had these years ago but eventually neglected the patch and they died out. The nice thing about these onions is that they provide the gardener with sets, so no need to buy them every year. They also lived through the winter so we had green onions all winter long. I am hoping to expand the patch this year and have a good bed of them for the future.

In the low block retaining wall I planted chives, parsley, and chamomile last year. Almost all of the plants survived the winter and are doing well.

This was a surprise--chrysanthemums that over-wintered in my planters. These were small, one-dollar plants that I stuck in for fall color, never expecting them to survive, and mums seldom ever make it through winter in my gardens. But here they are. Now, what to do with them is the question. I will want some bright flowers in these planters soon, so the mums will be transplanted to...where? Still figuring that out.

And another over-wintering plant in the planters, that was not supposed to survive under 50 degrees. I wish I could remember its name. It had dark green foliage, and a large, trumpet-like red flower, just stunning. I am very happy to have it back again this year, whatever it is.

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