Spring has sprung

Well spring sprang in Wisconsin quite a while ago! The weather has been unseasonably warm and rather delightful! This winter is the first one that I have spent here that didn't drag. It zipped by in fact and perhaps that in itself should be cause for alarm but with the windows open and the lovely fresh spring air it is difficult to be worried about anything!

The front garden is all weeded and pruned to within an inch of it's life, and the daffodils and hyacinths will be blooming any day now. It is still too early to actually buy anything at the garden center her in Milwaukee, although I did spot the delivery of some golden yellow forsythia plants yesterday, so hopefully it wont be too long! I have to remind myself that despite the temperatures being scheduled to hit 80 degrees tomorrow, we could still easily have a couple more big snowfalls before we are done.

Fortunately even though I can't wander the aisles of the local garden center I can take a trip through the virtual garden center at Direct Gardening. So far this year I have already filled my basket twice, today i am ready to commit to my purchases and click BUY!

I have some problem spots in my garden, some "challenging" areas, and this year I intend to plant a rain garden to deal with the low boggy spot to the North side of the garden. The solid clay, runoff from the school playing field and general lack of drainage have blighted this part of the garden since we bought the house. over the years we have built a raised play area and aerated the soil to try to get around the problem of drowned dead grass each spring, and each year we reseed the area in the hopes that we have helped the drainage enough. This year it is time for a different tactic. This time I am going to take what we have, a low area with poor drainage, prone to sporadic flooding and water logging, and I am going to use those features rather than try to get round them. Hopefully it will work!

Inspiration?

The kids are back at school, and fall rapidly approaches. I should be out there pruning, tidying the borders and eradicating the weeds. However, the mood has not grabbed me recently and I am feeling very uninspired. Perhaps it is a reluctance to admit that the summer growing season is drawing to an end, perhaps I am just being lazy. I think I need a goal, a deadline, something to work towards. Perhaps a visit to the garden center is what I need.

All winter long we pine for warmer weather, but sadly when it arrives it all too often quickly turns unbearably hot and humid. The growing window in our zone 5 garden is far too short for my liking, but I am always amazed at how rapidly perennials shoot from the ground and send forth their beautiful blooms. 

When I first began planting my garden more than a decade ago, I was drawn to plants that for me evoked memories of my childhood home and my family garden in Cheshire, England. Some plants thrived, despite the searing summer heat and frigid winter temperatures. Sadly, there have been many casualties along the way that just couldn't take it. Maybe it was the weather, but it could also have been the deer, the bunnies, the bog monster that cover a great deal of the garden at least twice a year, or even a spot of over aggressive weeding in the spring. Whatever the cause certain things steadfastly refuse the grow, despite repeated attempts on my part. These days, I have learned to try twice and then to give up, move on and plant something new.