The Lush Arrival of Spring is Apparent

Everywhere you look there is color out in the garden. I often forget to enjoy things like this redbud (Cercis canadensis) in our Japanese garden and get distracted by weeds and other duties that need to be addressed. That old proverb of "taking time to smell the roses" is very appropriate. We had another great Grumpy day and accomplished more composting and mulching. We're continuing to prepare for our plant sale and had a nice "volunteer evening" last night with over 20 volunteers showing up to finish up the last of our perennial dividing. We even had time to move plants in to place for the sale. I hope it's successful as it has the potential to bring in some MUCH needed revenue.
Here's a shot of one of my favorite spring bulbs. This is a grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) called 'Valerie Finnis'. It is a powder blue color and offers a nice pastel touch to the landscape. Remember that this species will also send up foliage in late summer to collect energy for the bulbs. Place it near a neighboring perennial that will obscure (or distract from) that foliage. Plant them in grouping of 25-50 in October.

We tend to get distracted by all the emerging blooms. Don't forget about foliage! I noticed this bloody dock (Rumex sanguineus var. sanguineus) out in the gardens. Look at the awesome veination on the leaves. This is a hardy perennial but also nice in bedding schemes and containers. We are pulling up hundreds, if not thousands of boxelder (Acer negundo) seedlings out in the gardens right now. It's ironic that we're encouraging a boxelder in the garden but the golden boxelder (Acer negundo 'Kelly's Gold') is so showy with it's bright foliage (bright yellow in spring, chartreuse in summer) that we have planted it as a "foliar focal point" out in many places. This weekend will be insane at the garden centers for Mother's Day. Be sure to patronize your local garden centers first!!!