Slumber is over. Spring awakens. Quickly!

Weeping Cherry blossoms are a sight for two of the senses

Ahhh. Spring has sprung. And with the work I was able to complete over the last few days, so has every muscle in my body. It is late in the season this year that I am completing this annual task, cleaning the beds from all of the winter detritus, raking out leaves blown in from yards afar, pulling early cool weather weeds and errant grasses.

While my body is protesting today, I am quite happy and satisfied. The days were warm and dry, allowing me two entire days of bending, picking, raking and hauling. I even broke a sweat a couple of times. Evenings have also been fruitful.

Snowbells soaking up the sun

This weather, being so pleasant, allowed me to also assess the damage done by ol' Ma Nature. It is not pretty. Upon further review, the Jasmine and two of the Gardenia have taken a huge hit, possibly even being visited by the Grim Reaper. I trimmed up the Jasmine, and the usual profuse "bleeding" of the white milky sap was not present. Sigh.

One of the early bloomers. Tulip.

But signs of life were evident elsewhere throughout the yard. Peonies are popping out of the ground, the tulips are starting to bud and a couple even managed to bloom. There are buds on all of the Japanese maples, which makes me very happy. The dappled willow was in full bud and this year, the squirrels have been snipping off the last 1-2 feet of each branch, leaving a disgusting pile at the base of the bush. My wife believes they are using them to build their nests, but I have seen them snip off these branches, only to nibble the very last couple of buds. Such a waste. We sprayed the bush with a fine mist of animal repellant, so we'll have to wait and see if that will work. They have never done this before and neither have I.

Peach blossoms

Over the years we have changed the ratio of grass to beds, and by doing this, have increased the need for mulch. Mulch is great stuff. I really does retain moisture in the ground under it. It biodegrades back into the soil, leaving nutrients over time. It does keep weeds at a minimum, and those that do manage to sprout, are easier to pull out. With that being said, I think that natural hardwood, cypress, pine bark or needles is the best. Stay away from the dyed variety. Chemically dyed mulch will only leech those chemicals back into your yard or garden. I've seen ads for ground up rubber mulch. Again, rubber from tires is extremely caustic over time and leeches horrible chemicals into the ground and will not look nice over the long haul.

Japanese Maple 'Shishigashira', or "Lions Mane" with new leaves.

Mulch can be expensive. It is cheaper by the yard when purchased in bulk, but it can be a large outlay all at once. The first year I was able to cover all my beds with just 20 bags of mulch. Two years ago we got a load of mulch delivered by dump truck, 9 cubic yards of it! And I was still shy, and since then we have added new planting beds in the back. This year I will be hitting the beds with small amounts of bagged mulch, here and there where needed. Make sure you get online and see when your local big box store is having a sale. Try to get them when they are 5 bags (2 cf each) for $10. The best deal all year. The Japanese Maples will be getting their dressings first.

The above images are the culmination of only 5 days of warm weather. It is amazing the resilience these plants have and the drive to reproduce and do it all over again after such a hard winter. We could all learn a lot from them.