It's only just begun...

 What a week it was around here last week.  It was very full of field trips (one for each girl on the same day and I drove on both!), a school choir concert, sports and ballet and my husband's surgery.  I knew there would be no time outside during that week and since the weather wasn't that great I didn't miss much.  My husband did amazingly well with his surgery and while he rested and recuperated over the weekend I played out in the sunny yard.  Saturday I spend working in the front yard and Sunday was spent around the pond.

 I scooped and scooped out the pond, cleaned the filter, trimmed the plants and cleaned off the waterfall.  It looks so much better.  Unfortunately this is string algae's favorite time of year and it has just taken off.  I spend much of the spring scooping it out of the pond.  I just love that our neighbors Forsythia is right where we can enjoy it.  The gold Mock Orange's leaves and daffodils pop with it in the background.

 Marsh marigold has been blooming for weeks, but now that the pot has been cleaned up the flowers can actually be seen.

 I put the pond floats back in.  The one in the middle is new this year, I bought it at the Flower and Garden show.

 This may not look like much now, but I spent a long time getting the purple oxalis up from next to the edgers.  I also cut the dead branches off the Daphne 'Summer Ice' and transplanted an offshoot from it.  It isn't variegated but otherwise looks the same.  Those Violas have been blooming almost all winter.

 Cleaned up the edges here too.  I love how the shed garden looks in spring, lots more to come here too.

 You can see this Ribes sanguineum 'Kind Edward VII' in the previous picture to the right.  This one has grown so quickly.

 Okay, so I lied when I said I got nothing down outside last week.  I added a long shelf in the shed and made a shorter one on top of the two clay pots.  I've been having fun "decorating" and organizing.  One day I'd love to paint it white inside.

 A view out of the shed.

 The path garden is starting to fill in.  I'd like to focus on this area this year.  I'm trying to convince my husband to remove the deck, so far he has agreed to taking off the far half.  I would prefer a stone patio and no deck at all.  But I guess he should have some say in how our garden looks.

 At the end of last summer I pulled up a currant bush that looked horrible and moved the Winter Hazel and Bleeding Heart to new places here.  I was wondering how the Winter Hazel would do this spring and it seems to be blooming better than it ever has.

 Winter Hazel (Corylopsis) 'Buttercup' has the most delicate butter yellow flowers.

 The Littlest Gardener is thrilled to see Grape Hyacinths popping up.  This is one flower I allow her to pick all she wants.  We seem to have them coming up everywhere and they look so cute in spring bouquets.

 One of the few Daffodils that returned.  Other than Tete-a-tetes I give up on Daffodils.  They either send up only foliage or the squirrels take them.

So, the spring flower show has begun along with a little bit of warmer temperatures.  I'm really excited to see the changes that seem to happen overnight this time of year.
All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

The shed garden in March.

Somehow we lucked out yet again with another nice day.  It was supposed to rain both yesterday and today, instead we had sun and mild temperatures.  The only rain that fell was during the night.  The Littlest Gardener and I have spent as much time as possible outside soaking in the Vitamin D.  She was busy leaving supplies out for the garden fairies.  I guess they can never have too many small sticks, leaves and pieces of gravel.  Now that she's four and a half she's really fun to have outside with me, her imagination has just taken off.  She routinely looks for signs of fairies in the backyard.  We know they're out there somewhere, but she tells me they are afraid of people.
Last year Sweet Pea and I started what we now call the shed garden.  It had been part of the side yard where we kept yard waste cans and whatever yard junk that had no other place to go.  Since removing the old metal shed and adding a new one last spring this whole area has taken on a whole new look.

It's hard to imagine that this time last year this was all gravel and leftover piles of bricks, plant pots and other junk.  I'm really happy with how it looks just one year later.

Ribes sanguineum 'King Edward VII' was planted in the shed garden last summer.  It has already grown so much and is loaded with blooms.  Everything in the shed garden has to compete with our neighbors huge Cedar trees roots on the other side of the fence.

Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls' has been in my garden for years, but I moved it to the shed garden last year.  I'm surprised it's already got blooms on it.  (Tina, is yours at about the same stage?)

Some of the tulips I planted last year are loving the sun.  I think things grew overnight, these buds were not this far up last time I looked.

Lewisia that I found at the fruit market last year already has buds.  I read that these can be difficult plants, but it loves it here.  I hope they have more this spring since they were such a great price compared to what I just saw them for at a nursery.

I'm not sure if the Dogwood will bloom this year, but at least there are leaf buds.  This one has never bloomed well.  I love how a row of Foxgloves planted themselves along the fence behind the tree.

This is taken looking out from the shed.  There is still some nice blank planting space left.

To see what this area looked like last year click here.  It's so fun taking an unused and forgotten part of your yard and turning it into a new garden space.  Especially if you have a small yard like we do, the whole yard becomes valuable garden real estate.

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Gardening in winter.

As I watched the news this morning and saw how much snow places like New York has gotten, I almost feel guilty admitting that I've gotten quite a bit of gardening done in the last week.  Aside from me complaining about the rain during the winter, which we have had a lot of, when we do get a break it's usually mild enough to go outside.  Parts of the yard are too wet to do a lot with, but still other areas can be weeded (ever growing weeds, a downside to a mild winter) and there are plenty of perennials that need cutting back.
Today I did a little more winter sowing:  Foxglove 'Apricot Faerie Queen', Blue Flax, Nicotiana sylvestris and Cleome 'Rose Queen'.   Some of the seeds that were winter sown on January 10th are already sprouting.  Both Hollyhock and Lupine had germinated by January 22nd.  Now the fun of checking on the rest of the seeds starts just waiting to see which ones will be next.  Every time I lift the lids it's like opening a present and wondering what will be inside.

Last spring I finally got the shed (or Bothy thanks to Edith Hope for teaching me something new) that I had been wishing for.  I call this part of the garden the "shed garden" (creative aren't I?).  I finally got some Primroses in which has brightened the area up.  Daffodils, Tulips and Bluebells are all poking through.  Having a shed to work in during the winter has been really nice.  I finally have a place to store my tools, seeds and other gardening equipment.  The lawnmower wasn't allowed in and sits with a tarp over it behind the shed.  Maybe it will break for good from sitting outside and then the grass will have to be all be taken out.

I plan to hang at least one narrow shelf above the work bench so I have some space to put all the seeds, bulbs, etc.  A lot of this used to sit inside the house piling up on desks and tables all winter.  I love coming out and sorting through seeds or finding tools that are nice and dry rather than them sitting out on the potting bench getting wet and rusty.  One day I'd love to have electricity in here so I can set up grow lights for indoor seed starting.

The "driveway garden" was where I focused my energy yesterday cutting back perennials, weeding and cleaning out leaves.  My neighbor laughed and said, "Are you out here already?"  Then she came back with a large bag of coffee grounds she had picked up at a Starbucks for me to use around some plants.  Today I went back out to the "driveway garden" to sprinkle in the seeds of Breadseed Poppies ('Hungarian Blue' and 'Imperial Pink') and my favorite Larkspur 'Shades of Blue'.

As well as finding Phlox already starting to come up I saw that the buds on the Magnolia tree 'Vulcan' getting plumper.  I'm a bit nervous about the buds getting damaged in freezing weather which I'm sure we'll get again this winter, but for now it was nice to see since it's only been here and couple of years and hasn't bloomed yet.

Yesterday I made a visit to the nursery to pick up a Sarcococca for the entry garden, while I was there a women that works there told me that many of the roses were already in.   Bare root trees and blueberry bushes were there as well, it's hard to believe it's almost that time again.

The pond and garden in January.

Our January so far has been very wet!  We've had snow and we've had lots and lots of rain.  On some of the recent rainy days our temperatures made it up around 50 degrees and it seems that quite a few plants are deciding to start sending out some new growth.  As excited as I am to see new growth I have to keep reminding myself that we are only half way through January with the potential for snow and freezing again before the winter is over, and there's no question that we'll see lots more rain too. 

I was able to take this picture at almost 4 pm the other day.  The days are definitely getting longer now, as of about a month ago it was practically dark at 4:30.  This is a very exciting change!  The garden behind the pond is pretty young since about a year and a half ago I took almost everything out and started over.  I have been trying to stick to a plan and color scheme since and doing pretty well with it.  So right now what is there is still on the small side.

 

Quite a few of the fish were swimming around, I was happy to find so many of our favorites still there.  I know that at least a few are missing, another two were found dead in the pond the other day which seems strange.  I'm not sure what has been  happening with them.  After all the years of having this pond it's extremely rare to just find a fish dead in the pond.  There have been no signs of raccoons or any other wildlife in the pond.  Very strange.

The Marsh Marigold has lots of new growth coming up.  This usually blooms very early in spring.

Heuchera 'Autumn Bride' is looking great now.  For being such a light colored Heuchera it has handled the sun very well.

This is looking out from the shed garden.  This was all brand new last summer.  There are quite a few evergreen plants in this area, although they are still quite small.  I found many bulbs beginning to pop up in here.  Now is the time I give my daughters warnings about where they are stepping while playing in the garden, "Lookout for bulbs!"  I say as I see them running around.  Somehow I doubt they remember and that's okay, they should enjoy the yard too ☺

Last fall I planted a deciduous Azalea 'Pink and Sweet' near the front of the shed, it's supposed to be very fragrant with pink flowers.  I'm hoping it has some blooms this year.  I can't wait to see how this all fills in as the year progresses.

The forecast calls for a sunny day tomorrow and I'm hoping I can finally get out in the garden and do some clean up.  The winter interest isn't looking very interesting anymore and I think I may cut the butterfly bush back.  Spring can't come soon enough!

The garden shed.

Well, it's pretty much finished. I've waited almost 10 years to have a garden or potting shed here. I haven't decided what I'm calling it yet; garden or potting shed... Either way I'm really happy to have it! I did complain about the painting a few days ago, but now that it's done it doesn't seem like it was so bad. There are still some things to cleanup, and a few details left like putting lattice around the bottom of the sides and of course a little decorating!

The color was supposed to match our house, but the match didn't come out quite right. It has a hint of purple to it, but I actually like it a lot. The little "deck" on the front was made by my husband and I plan to replant the container and probably add a couple more smaller ones on the other side as well.

This shows part of the garden in front. There are lots and lots of Bluebells here and once they finish blooming I'll move some out and probably add some Hostas and ferns since it's fairly shady here. Sweet Pea is going to paint her fairy garden whiskey barrel a nice bright color to add a little fun too. The Japanese Maple in it will be perfect as it grows bigger.

Looking from the "deck" there is lots of planting space here. I want to find more evergreen plants for this area. The lighting makes it a little difficult to see, but the area near the stepping stone path gets a good amount of sun, so I've added some Daylilies 'Egyptian Queen' to the Coneflowers, Cape Fuchsia (Phygelius), Campanulas and Penstemon.

It was definitely worth the wait. Now we just need a little sun and everything should start filling in. (As I went to post this I looked outside after it stopped hailing only to realize it's SNOWING!)