The day after we appreciate our blooms we take time to appreciate our foliage. This time of the year I can really appreciate the signs that my garden is waking up from winter. All of my columbines (Aquilegia sp.) are starting to show new growth.
This is a collection of winter interest. The Thread Leaf Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera) is a bit yellower than this picture shows. I like the contrasting textures between it, the dwarf Pieris and the (hopefully dwarf) Rhododendron.
This Buddleia managed to hold on to some leaves all winter. This is one of the Nanho series.
My mountain mint (Pycnanthemum) has clearly started to spread already. It can be a bit aggressive but I planted it in the Hell Strip so it is welcome to spread.
The Sempervivum also survived heavy snow cover. We'll see if the sandy, dry soil of the Hell Strip is enough to let it survive the very wet spring.
This Penstemon (Mystica) seems to have turned it's leaves upside down in frustration over the winter's snow cover.
This Sedum Autumn Fire) managed to hold onto last years flower stalks despite being buried by the snow plows. I like this photo that shows the old flower stalks and the hint of new growth. Well I liked it better before Blogger turned it sideways!
After all the recent rainfall I won't be able to do much in the garden as the weather warms this week. Fortunately a lot of my perennials are reachable from outside the beds so I can start pulling back last year's dead foliage. I like to leave it until the new foliage shows up in the spring since some plants do better holding on to the old stuff over the winter.
When I say recent rainfall I mean the State of Emergency in Massachusetts due to several heavy storms. Our ground is saturated. There is a new pond in the woods behind our house and several of my neighbors have hoses running from their basement sump pumps. We have been lucky. Not much water in the basement (just dampness), no trees down (knock wood! The ground is still saturated so if we get any wind they could start coming down). We do have a roof leak around our chimney that required all of our old towels to spend the night in the attic but it was towels, not buckets. Still I won't be planting pea seeds today!
Thanks to Pam at Digging for this meme.
Not much in the way of succulents? Well, you have sempervivum and sedum in this post, and they are looking good even after your cold and rainy winter. Way to go, succulents! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI like your yellow-green shrub combo, and like you, I'm watching my penstemon foliage plump up for spring.
Thanks for participating. I hope your garden dries out soon!
I know how you feel about saoked ground. I live in North Florida and it has rained 2 or 3 days a week ever since Thanksgiving. The back corner of our yard is the lowest spot around so all the excess water drains there. Lately the back half of the yard is so wet we can't even walk on it.
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