Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Small Steps Toward Spring

Since I don't normally have weather during the first part of February to even consider getting out and about in the garden it is a nice break in the weathers that allowed me to get out and actually accomplish a minor chore or two.
These liropes are winter burned and rather flattened yet you can hardly see the pot behind them. So I decided that I would raise these pots that sit in front of the screen house. 
The Lirope is cut back and the pots are raised. They have little Japanese Maple trees in them that I took up from underneath the JM here in our garden. 
Even though I have put them up several courses of bricks I might have to raise them even more this summer after the Lirope fills out. We will have to wait and see.
The water feature gave me fits this year it seems. I leave the leaves on the ground around it. I don't remember having such trouble with leaves getting in here in previous years. Maybe I am just more sensitive about the clean out since my foot is inconveniently restricted this winter. Anyway I moved some rocks around. Placing the largest rock (Thank you DB) on the side where the leaves seem to be able to blow over the smaller rocks. Plus the Spreading Japanese Yew was beginning to go over the larger rock. I would rather it didn't so I place a smaller rock into the space where the larger one had been. It seems that the little gargoyle approves of this move. 
After these small challenges I made a cup of tea and built a small fire in the chimnea and waited for some strong winds to blow in the even warmer air of today to test my rock blocking theory.  It feels good to get out and actually do something in the garden even if it is a small step toward spring.
Have you been able to do anything in the garden?



15 comments:

  1. i love Japanese maples!
    All your lovely plants are sleeping and having good dreams. :)

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    1. I sure hope they are having good dreams...dreams about the spring when they will pop out renewed and beautiful.

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  2. When I read your words 'water feature' I could hear Charlie in the old Alan Titchmarsh show Groundforce! Your last question makes me smile. Let's see would ordering my vegetable seeds yesterday count? haha

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    1. You bet ordering veggie seeds is a step forward toward spring.

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  3. Freezing rain here and still lots of snow. That looks like so much fun. I am going pretty stir crazy. Can you leave the Jp. maples in those pots outdoors all winter? Are they ceramic?

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    1. Yes, I do leave these pots out. I have had them for probably 18 years. They have been out most of that time. When I first got them I put them away then I started growing things in them that needed to be out. So...they have survived so far. They are a heavy clay-like ceramic I think. The inside is like a clay feeling the outside obviously has a glaze. They came from Fl of all places. I don't know where they were made. There were no tags on them. A friend brought them to me as a gift.

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  4. I like the work you have done on your water feature. They can be very tricky and can sometimes be frustrating. But the end results are worth it.

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  5. Your chimnea is cute. Have not seen any Maple in my life. Excited for the beauty of your Spring.

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  6. Yes it does feel great to get outside! So happy you had a break in the weather. This winter has been a winter that wasn't-so far anyhow.

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    1. I agree about the winter weather. Strange...or is this the new norm??

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  7. How nice to be able to get out in the garden and actually do something! Actually, yesterday was warm enough that I could have, but I had other things going on and just didn't have time. 60 degrees yesterday, and tonight we're supposed to have snow!

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    1. Crazy weathers Rose. I saw on the weather forecast that your area was to get 3 inches of snow today. Here we have had no snow. We almost bought a snow blower this fall. Glad now that we didn't. We don't really have a place to store it.

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  8. That's great! Your garden has nice bones--it looks interesting even without snow in winter. Your water and chiminea add personality to the garden! No, I haven't gotten out to garden at all for weeks. I did walk the property the other day, but it didn't excite me at all. ;-) So, I headed back in to read my book and work on my computer.

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