Friday, March 25, 2011

Signs of life...

Yesterday, we woke up to about .5" of snow on the ground and intermittent flurries through out the day. Thankfully, it melted by late morning and the stuff that fell later in the day never stood a chance on the ground. Cruel joke, Mother Nature....just cruel. :( The weather looks very promising though these next seven days of sunshine and temps in the 40's and low 50's. Definitely a far cry from last year this time of year with the pouring rain that lead to the office and basement flooding.

Tuesday and today I've been popping out off and on and taking stock of what's happening outside. This pic below is a welcome sight for winter weary eyes. These guys are facing on my south wall and a) they are probably an early season daff and b) this wall is warmer than the others so things progress faster than others.


Sedum 'Matrona' getting her "brussell sprout" look on. Note to self...no fertilizer for her or my other sedums this year. They grew like hell and then flopped over mid June. If they do it again, they're getting pinched and hard.


I love emerging Lady Mantle leaves...they are adorable!


My dusty rose/orange lilies are popping up against that south wall. I'm waging a full out war against red lily leaf beetle this year and I'll have Eric get on top of that soon. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the evil little bug, here's a great link for educating yourself on them: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/neweng/2002040522017914.html The good news is, URI has been releasing a parasitic wasp in different areas of Rhode Island to combat these little nasties. Dr. Cassagrande who is involved with their study is very optimistic the wasps will be successful in controlling red lily leaf beetle.

All of the other hostas are sleeping still but this one - Hosta 'Aureo-marginata.' This variety is one of the first to emerge in the spring. It's a gorgeous yellow and green variegated leaf with a vase like growing habit. Very, very striking in the shade garden.


I'm getting psyched for this growing season...let's hope that Mother Nature wants to play nice this year.

2 comments:

Jeff Lewis said...

I'm in a war against the Red Lily leaf beetle myself. They love the 70+ asiatic lilies I planted up my driveway. Just need to stay on top of the buggers.

Bliss said...

it is so much fun to watch everything start emerging from the ground.