The Path garden is waking up!

 Today felt like it should've been the first day of spring.  It was sunny and warm (around 60) with a gentle breeze blowing.  I spent the majority of the day working in the front yard, but had to see how the path garden was looking since it's pretty behind where it normally is this time of year.  I was happy to see that everything is waking up, in fact I was shocked at just how quickly some things had changed since I last looked.

 A look down the path from this morning.  It's hard to see in this picture both Clematises on the arbor have lots of new growth.  I know I should prune 'Comtesse de Bouchaud' back but it's so full of new growth, some of which look like flower buds, that I've decided to leave it and will prune when it's done blooming.  Geraniums are filling in along the deck.

Golden Mock Orange (Philadelphus) is leafing out.  I can't wait to smell it's pretty white flowers soon.

Old-fashioned Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis) is starting to grow much faster now after some warmer weather.

One of my and the hummingbirds favorite spring blooming shrubs is Pink Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum).  I just love how it looks against the bark of the Ponderosa Pine.

Navelwort (Omphalodes cappadocica) 'Starry Eyes' is beginning to spread some.  It's flowers are a true blue, but tiny.  You need to get right down low to appreciate them.

Camellia japonica 'Marie Bracey'

Corylopsis (Winter Hazel) 'Buttercup' is a tricky one to photograph.  It has the softest butter yellow flowers.

 Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum commutatum) is popping up all over the place.  I'm so happy it continues to spread under this big rhododendron.

I also found flower buds on Epimedium, as well as tiny leaves emerging where I thought a mole's continually pushing up on another one had killed it, and flower buds on the fruiting currant bush.  Still no signs of life on a my favorite hydrangea in the path garden.   No signs of Uvularia or Virginia Bluebells yet either.
Sometimes I get so focused on one part of my garden that I sort of forget about other areas.  It's little signs of the path garden waking up that remind me of how pretty this part of the garden is in spring.  It just might be my favorite part of the yard this time of year.
Hope you are finding more and more of your garden waking up soon.
All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Ready for change.

Normally fall isn't a season that I get really excited for, especially this time of it since a lot of the color has finished and it mostly means clean up.  For some reason this fall has me really excited though, probably because it means it's time for change.  I think like the old leaves falling and the spent perennials being cut back I feel as a gardener like I'm leaving a summer of gardening disinterest behind and am already looking forward to next spring and the changes it will bring.  I've already started some planning of rearranging plants, removing grass, more substantial container plantings and maybe even that picket fence I've been dreaming of for years will go up next year.  This quote pretty much says it all:

"Autumn is a season followed immediately by looking forward to spring."  - Doug Larson

We lucked out after a night of rain to have the clouds clear a bit and the sun come out.  I couldn't wait to get outside and start cleaning the leaves up.  The small Japanese Maple leaves seem to stick to the dog and the kids and there's always a small trail of them just inside the door.

The pond is now ready for winter.  The pump was cleaned, leaves and pine needles scooped out and any annual water plants have been removed.  To read the post I did last year on how I get the pond ready for winter go here.

The whole family pitched in to clean up as many leaves as possible from the deck and path.  There are still some more on the tree, but the majority fell after all the rain we had a couple of nights ago.

Some pretty fall color on the Winter Hazel (Corylopsis).

I love seeing that the Sarcococca/Sweet Box already has buds forming for the delicious flowers that will bloom around January.  Those flowers then become the purple berries that you can sort of see in this picture.

Sweet Pea bought the Mexican Feather Grass with her own money.  I wasn't sure where to plant it so it's in a container on the deck now.  I may regret letting it go to seed, but I'm really enjoying seeing it blow in the breeze.

A few of the containers on the deck.  I didn't used to plant much in containers for fall or winter, but the last couple of years I've done a lot more and really enjoy seeing something colorful growing when most of the garden is sleeping.

While I was out cleaning I noticed how many plants and shrubs have already started setting their buds for spring.  Even though I know we still have half of fall and all of winter left I can't help but already to be looking forward to spring.  In the meantime I'll be pulling out the gardening books and catalogs so I can keep dreaming and planning.  And I wouldn't even mind seeing some snow this year to help make the winter a little more interesting.

Seems early,...

But I guess it's not. One thing I've loved about starting a blog last year is the way I can keep track of my garden and what's growing when. While I was outside this weekend starting winter sowing I noticed quite a bit of new growth. It seemed early for some things, but as I came in and looked at my pictures and posts from last year it's seems as though most everything is right about on time. Last winter our weather was a lot different, we had a good amount of snow and cold weather. This winter we had icy weather in the beginning of December but other than that it has been fairly mild and very rainy.

More Hellebores (H. orientalis) getting ready to bloom. This one is 'Royal Heritage'. These I know are right on track.

Iris reticulata seemed early, but looking back at my records they are at about the same place they were last winter.

Clematis 'Nelly Moser' as well as pretty much all of the other Clematis in my yard have new growth.

Old fashioned Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) seemed really early to be sprouting, but looking back it's not. All of them are at about the same stage as this one.

Corsican Hellebore has buds that seem to be growing daily, last year they bloomed through the snow. I think they are typically later bloomers than the other Hellebores (H. orientalis), but in my yard they bloom right around the same time.

Variegated Wallflower (Erysimum linifolium) was new last April, but it came in full bloom when I bought it. It has only stopped blooming during the freeze back in December, it's now got quite a few new buds. As I've said before this has been one of my favorite new plants this past year. If you see it and it grows in your zone (USDA 3a - 9b), buy it!

Winter Daphne (daphne odorata) never got a chance to really bloom last year. Hopefully these quickly growing buds will be able to flower before any more freezes.

Winter Hazel (Corylopsis) 'Buttercup' didn't really get a good chance to bloom either last year. It's loaded with yellow and pinkish buds.

This house down the street from me has a tree that has new growth all over it, I can't tell what type of tree it is though and this was the best picture I could get. Any ideas? This house is going to be for sale, anyone want to be my neighbor? :)

Sarcococca is now blooming, but I'm saving those pictures for Bloom Day. They are exactly on time, Grace's are blooming too. The Snowball bush (Viburnum) actually has some leaves beginning to open as well as some of the Hydrangeas. The Hydrangeas worry me though, since one good freeze and I say "goodbye" to all the flowers for summer. Another thing I'm a little concerned about are the pests that seem to be enjoying our mild weather, I've seen both Aphids and Leaf hoppers on my plants. As much as I've loved this mild winter I would really love to get at least one snowfall.