Tuesday, April 17, 2007

damage assessment

The arctic blast after all of those warm days in March 'did a job' on my spring bulbs. The snowdrops, crocuses, dutch irises and eranthus that usually enjoy long, cold early springs were hurried out in record time. The earlier than normal blooming hyacinths and daffs whose stems turned to mush will recover and bloom again next year.
May we all be here to see them bloom properly again.
The later to wake and rise bulbs in the same plantings will be fine, but the beds will be sparser.
The twinflower and bloodroots were hit hard, but surprisingly, the hardy cyclamen coum is still blooming prettily. The primroses are blooming fools. Scilla and pushkinia are perking up after laying down on their beds like femme fatales in a soap opera.
Spring Beauty, which the very mention of makes Herb laugh as being some kind of silly spring gardener joke, are just beginning to bloom.
And I'm out pruning woodies whenever I manage a conjunction of (my) schedule with outdoor temperature and sogginess of lawn. I wanted to tackle the roses yesterday, as the forsythia have been blooming for a few days, only the wind was turning the thorny stems into lethal weapons. But there is always something else to do.

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