Spring - Slowly Getting Gardens in Shape

Sign of spring. The cat has moved to its garden lookout.

I think I should fertilize these hyacinths. They are looking a little bit sparse.

The Bleeding Hearts are unfurling and displaying raindrops at the same time. Multi-taskers.

My big self-imposed chore this past week has been to trim the hedges. They make a nice backdrop for the gardens and add a sense of cosiness to the space. Ted keeps threating to cut them down because he feels that I am doing too much work. I won't remind him that he sold his chain saw.

Scilla that were part of a bulb mix someone gave me a dozen years ago have made their way around the gardens. They are such happy little flowers. And, in the background - cucumber racks are ready for this year's crop. We'll see how they do there this year. It's not the sunniest spot and the soil is a bit sandy.

Yesterday, a kindred gardening friend introduced me to Native Plants in Claremont. A couple of wood poppies came home with me. And, some smaller ones from my friend's garden too! Lucky me.

What a joyful flower to see in the early spring.

In and around the woods, bees will be happy in a day or two - whenever we get sunshine again. Coltsfoot flowers are an early spring source of pollen and nectar for them.

It's fun to tour gardens and garden centres with like-minded people. I'd forgotten that red trilliums are also called Wake Robin. A herald of spring.

I accidentally killed my large cluster of red trilliums last year by putting too much fine wood mulch on them. It was a happy moment to find this one in the woods this morning.

And, so it has begun - the 2025 gardening year. This might be good advice for all gardeners:

“Begin at the beginning,"

the King said, very gravely,

"and go on till you come to the end:

then stop.”

Lewis Carroll