Empty Canvas

There's been very little time for landscape gardening this year, and my canvas was still under construction, but now we are almost at the stage where I can start thinking about trees and shrubs and perennials again.

I hope to draw from my daughters' gardens, just as they drew from mine when they started theirs.

I also brought a few divisions of my favorites from my last garden and stuck them in a row in my vegetable garden.

I also plan on using some of the shrubs and trees that are growing wild throughout the property.

The fun will be planning.  But oh what a lot of work to put it all together!

The more I walk the land the more I enjoy it, even though the work I see ahead is overwhelming at times.

The forsythia is blooming now, but it's painfully obvious that it needs to be cut back and given a fresh start.

It's exiting to see how many fruit trees are on the land but sad to know that it's too late now to prune them all.

I am delighted to see that there is a good stand of elderberries on the property. (I later discovered that this was not elderberry but viburnum; the berries left on the plant had me fooled)

I wonder, will I make pies with them or sell them at the market?

 

When I first saw this huge tree I thought it was a dead evergreen but then I noticed some new life and realized that it was the tamarack.

 I think I will harvest some of these tiny cones to sell at Christmas time.

These sweet violets were the first wild flowers I spotted.  I know there will be more and I look forward to a great garden season on our new land.

Forcing Forsythia

Happy First Day of Spring!
The weather is warmer, the buds are swelling and every day something new is blooming. I love to bring in Forsythia twigs when they are still in bud and watch with anticipation while the buds swell and then open into full bloom. At first, it looks like a just vase full of twigs, but then it becomes a gorgeous bursting delight:

As you can see, my amaryllis and poinsettia are still holding on too! But I love bringing nature inside and forcing its appearance a little sooner than normal simply for my benefit. Happy Spring!