April 15th--Halfway to May Day!

Such a beautiful day with light breezes, plentiful sunshine. My kind of temperatures in the mid-60s.  Jacket weather!

Narcissus 'Tete-a-Tete' 

The little bag of Tete-a-Tete miniature daffodil bulbs I got at a garden club meeting last year were blooming today.  They have naturalized along my front walk.  Their diminuitive, soft yellow flowers with slightly darker cups stand "head to head" very early in the spring.

I found plants yesterday at the garden center in Middlefield and planted my driveway planter and a planter at the clubhouse today.  In my driveway which is in afternoon sun I planted Viola 'Tiger Eye', Heuchera "Green Spice' (coral bells), and Sedum 'Makinoi Limelight' along with the chocolate grass I'm watching for signs of life.

Driveway planter at 12 South Hollow

At the clubhouse, the planter is under the deck on the north side and very shady.  I planted it like Cathy Testa showed us last year with several holes drilled in the bottom for drainage and covered with used dryer sheets to keep the soil inside. I lined the planter with plastic cut off below the lip to hold the soil for easy removal next year. Don't forget to make some slits in the bottom for drainage! It was half full with her special soil mixture leftover from last year (and never used!). I brought two more bags of Soilite sterile potting soil which has a wetting agent and a chemical to discourage fungus and disease.  I planted Arenaria montana (Sandwort), Vinca minor 'Bowlesii' (Periwinkle), Liriope muscari 'Big Blue', and purple pansies. I used Cathy's three-part design system of thrillers (Liriope), fillers (Sandwort), and spillers (Periwinkle) and a dash of color (pansies).

Lastly, I put some Holly-tone around the holly, azaleas, and boxwood in my landscape beds before calling it a day in the garden.  I'm concerned about the Buxus (Boxwood) because it had a lot of snow damage.  I trimmed it back about a month ago to restore its shape after many branches broke from the three feet of snow that covered it for a couple of months.  It's also not in a good spot with full sun, but I need an evergreen in the front landscape bed.

We gardeners are never happy with things as they are and are ever alert for problems and changes.  Good thing we get to do planter designs within small spaces and with limited choices each year and enjoy plants that naturalize themselves in larger spaces with only one decision and no upkeep over time.