The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. Alfred Austin
Spring is the season with a multiple personality disorder. Last week I wrote about the blizzard dubbed “Snowmegeddon II” that blasted through Colorado. Two days ago the temperatures rose to 80 degrees in my area, while yesterday I got a bit of rain and last night the temps dipped down into the 30s. Crazy, but not at all unusual.
Speaking of Snowmegeddon II, turns out I was wrong about something. I know! I am as shocked as you are, but it’s true. The daffodil blooms next to the driveway actually made it through the spring storm intact and continued to bloom all week long.
Elsewhere in the garden, the ephemerals continue to bloom and fade. As you can see in the photo to the right, the minerature crocuses that I wrote about last week have finished for the season, and their larger cousins are now in full bloom. The tiny blue flowers on the right are Siberian Squills. Within a week these too will be done for the year.
The gray fuzzy plants in the foreground are Lambs Ears. Years ago I read in a gardening magazine (that I no longer subscribe to) that Lambs Ears are a perfect addition to the garden because they are heat and drought tolerant and aren’t aggressive bullies.
Bullshit. While they are indeed heat and drought tolerant, these damn things spread all over the place and eventually start to dominate the areas where they have settled. They are a veritable thug in the garden. While I am mildly tolerant of their behavior, and allow them to colonize out of the way sections of the garden, Mrs. Vintage absolutely loathes these things and will rip them out every chance she gets.
As you can see above, the Brunnera (also known as Siberian Bugloss and false forget-me-not) is in full bloom. I mentioned before that I like to use Brunnera in place of Hosta because they are more hardy in my region. Unfortunately, Brunnera does not have nearly as much variety in foliage coloration as Hostas do. There are variegated forms of Brunnera available, but to my eye these varieties tend to look sickly and diseased. So I just stick with the solid green plants. Brunneras also like to reseed around the garden, but unlike the Lamb Ears, I encourage them to spread as far and wide as they would like.
Meanwhile, in the front yard, the first of the tulips are now in bloom. Funny thing is, I don’t believe I actually planted these particular tulips. I certainly wouldn’t have placed them at the bottom of the downspout diverter. I guess it’s like Jeff Goldblum’s character said in Jurassic Park: life finds a way.
Every Spring, without fail, brings the little bastard you see in the picture above to my house. I don’t know if it is the same exact woodpecker who uses my chimney cap to call for mates every year, or if I just happen to have the hottest spot in the neighborhood for attracting lady woodpeckers. All I know is that this beaked Lothario has woken Mrs. Vintage and I early every morning this month by hammering away on the metal chimney cap as part of his mating ritual. That’s annoying enough, but this year this rat-bastard decided to liven things up a bit by drilling a hole into the siding near the top of the chimney. Jerk.
I mowed the lawn for the first time this year. I’ve got to tell you, there is just something peaceful and rejuvenating about mowing the lawn in Spring. It gives me a sense of accomplishment, and it is a powerful sign that Winter is really and truly over. There have been countless jokes made about men and their love of lawns. My view is that a well maintained lawn is the Western equivalent of a Japanese Zen garden.
Of course, come about July I won’t be so philosophical about mowing. By then mowing will have become a tedious pain in the ass. I came across the following comment on another blog that said “I can hardly wait for the cold and wet to end so I can start complaining about the heat and humidity”. Somewhere out there I have a kindred spirit!
Finally, the weather on Saturday was so nice that I was able to accomplish a small project I’d been contemplating for awhile. I had several leftover flagstones from when I built the patio years ago that I didn’t know what to do with. Last year Mrs. Vintage and I moved the firewood over to the south side of the house so it would be out of sight. The doggies like to hide out in this area so much, because it is usually cool and shady, that they wore a path through a section of the garden to get there. So I used the remaining stones to make a little walkway from the patio to the firewood. I placed the stones over the path the doggies made. Nothing fancy, but it looks good if I say so myself. Certainly better than the patch of bare dirt that was there before.
So that’s what has been happening in my yard and garden. How about your yarden? Do you have any pictures or stories you would like share? If so, please send your pictures and details to MrVintageMan2@gmail.com.
