Planning for Spring

Usually by this time I’m already overtaken by cabin fever and dreaming of beautiful summer days, but this year, with the exception of a few days of brutal cold at the beginning of the month, it seems weather forgot winter exists.

I hesitate to mention this because I don’t want to jinx it; for sure the second I write the words another freeze from a place that will remain unmentioned is going to be upon us, but so far the temperatures have been in the fifties and sixties, mostly accompanied by rain.

I am a bit weather confused right now, because I don’t know if I’m waiting for spring or still ending fall, but no matter.

Some of the spring planning took place a few months ago: the bulbs are planted and I propagated some of the existing perennials.

What really needs work this spring is an area in full shade where the roots of a mature tree make lawn survival impossible. I’ve been planning to replace that hopeless patch of patchy grass with a shade garden for a while now, but I never got to planting it, and in the meantime a good portion of that area got taken over by wild shrubs and weedy volunteers.

I can already picture the lush leaves of hostas and hellebores, mixed with many other, hopefully less common shade perennials, like Solomon’s Seal, tricyrtis, bergenia and monkshood. Of course, cleaning the area takes precedence, I need to dig out clumps that have grown so big they are peeking out through the branches of the crab apple tree.

Another shade garden. I’m going to become an expert in shade soon.