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muckefuckYesterday the ground crew were pulling up the evergreen branches from the flower beds so I thought it was high time I did the same thing at home. Actually, I'd meant to do it over the weekend but time got away from me. Thanks to DST, however, we now have daylight in the evenings so I had a chance to shred everything into the compost before it got too dark.
Sadly, the thyme and the verbena seem once again not to have made it. I had high hopes given the mild winter and all, but I guess this is just out of their hardiness zones. Actually, I'm not convinced it was cold that got to the thyme. I mulched it with compost, figuring that it would freeze and stay frozen, but that happened only sporadically and I wonder if it wasn't in fact the excess of moisture close to the rootstock that did it in.
After all, at least half the remaining salad greens managed to survived the winter. I really thought they were goners after that hard frost at New Year's but I guess not. And we already have sorrel leaves large enough to pick. Sage, fennel, woodruff, and chives are all sprouting. We're hitting the ground running this year like never before.
There are a few crocuses blooming in the front lawn, which is particularly impressive given the working over it got at the hands of both the gas company and Streets and San. Looks like we lost about half the periwinkle from people tramping across the beds during construction (or, rather, during the period there were gaping holes in the ground waiting for the city to remember to fill them). Scooter wants to wait to see what the authorities plan to put in at the corners before we do anything like move the firebush back, but I'm anxious to get some black-eyed susans in there.
Today I saw the first daffodil on Arthur--unless of course you count the little dwarf daffodils across the street. Also Japanese iris, snowdrops, and more crocus, but no shrubs budding as of yet. On campus I saw a patch of squill and there's a lovely patch of aconite near the main entrance tucked almost entirely out of view in a corner.
Sadly, the thyme and the verbena seem once again not to have made it. I had high hopes given the mild winter and all, but I guess this is just out of their hardiness zones. Actually, I'm not convinced it was cold that got to the thyme. I mulched it with compost, figuring that it would freeze and stay frozen, but that happened only sporadically and I wonder if it wasn't in fact the excess of moisture close to the rootstock that did it in.
After all, at least half the remaining salad greens managed to survived the winter. I really thought they were goners after that hard frost at New Year's but I guess not. And we already have sorrel leaves large enough to pick. Sage, fennel, woodruff, and chives are all sprouting. We're hitting the ground running this year like never before.
There are a few crocuses blooming in the front lawn, which is particularly impressive given the working over it got at the hands of both the gas company and Streets and San. Looks like we lost about half the periwinkle from people tramping across the beds during construction (or, rather, during the period there were gaping holes in the ground waiting for the city to remember to fill them). Scooter wants to wait to see what the authorities plan to put in at the corners before we do anything like move the firebush back, but I'm anxious to get some black-eyed susans in there.
Today I saw the first daffodil on Arthur--unless of course you count the little dwarf daffodils across the street. Also Japanese iris, snowdrops, and more crocus, but no shrubs budding as of yet. On campus I saw a patch of squill and there's a lovely patch of aconite near the main entrance tucked almost entirely out of view in a corner.