It’s lovely out, so…

It's lovely out, so gardening today. A tonic for the stressed soul. Pictured below -- ranunculus from the grocery store -- I bought them a week ago for our New Year's party, and half the bunch was looking sadly scraggly, so I tossed those, cleaned up the others, and placed what remained in individual little vases for a cluster of beauty that should last a few more days.

Kavi dressed to help gardening, and was very proud of both her flowering tree shirt and the flowers on her socks. I started our compost bin finally (yay, me), and then took a rest from my labors (heaving a bunch of green matter in, along with the brown matter from the kitchen bucket) sitting on the front bench, reading a gardening magazine in the sunshine.

This is the view from the bench; still early spring-y in its sparseness, but quietly happy. Hellebore and early daffodils on the left (Mt. Hood, I think), hyacinths, pansies, and ranunculus on the right. And various perennials starting to go, and the grass greening up nicely.

Spoils of the harvest. I'm always a bit torn out in the garden -- I want to bring flowers into the house, but I want the front yard to look lovely too. In a few years, I'll hopefully have a front full enough of flowers that I can snip occasional ones without detracting from the effect -- and I might even squeeze a cuttings garden into the side yard. But for now, I mostly leave them out there (see hellebores below), or only snip the ones that are drooping low enough to the ground to not be missed (hyacinth and daffodils).

I think both of the clumps of daffodils (Mt. Hood and Replete) are going to move to the backyard; they're lovely, but have too much yellow/orange in them for the color scheme we have going in the front. (The back is just going to be all colors.) I'm not sure whether to move them now (just blooming) or wait until they're mostly done (or completely done). What's safest for repeat bloom next year -- anyone know?

1 thought on “It’s lovely out, so…”

  1. You need to leave them in the ground until the leaves die off (which will likely be a few months) and then move them.

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