Springtime in My Garden

Is anyone else just itching to get into their garden? The snow melted here in Montreal weeks ago. But I’m holding myself back from messing with anything, in an effort not to disturb the insects slumbering in the leaves and dead branches scattered around my garden beds. I am amazed watching the garden come alive and grow around and in some cases into the dead leaves littering the ground.

Spring just might be my favourite season. Every day is an exciting new discovery. Plants emerge from the ground over the course of a day, go from ground to bud overnight. I always feel that if I could just spend a whole day out there, I would be able to actually watch my plants grow before my eyes. To me, spring is a celebration of the will to live. I look at my rose bushes, attacked year after year by Japanese beetles, almost decimated by black spot last year. And yet here they are, slowly unfurling green leaves, healing themselves through sheer will.

Old Friends

Watching my garden wake up every year is like reuniting with old friends. How will the roses I planted last year look after a cold winter? Don’t worry about Rose of Sharon, she’s always the last to arrive. Is that false indigo peeking through the leaves over there? I was starting to worry she wouldn’t make it. I take delight in welcoming each plant, celebrating each time one has emerged enough to be identified.

I also love watching the bees return. Their cheerful buzzing makes me feel as though my garden is part of something bigger. I’ve seen many more bees than usual this spring, it seems to me. They have been adoring the bluebells and crocuses. Dandelions have completely taken over my vegetable beds. I’m leaving them for my tiny striped friends to snack on until I am ready to put my veggies in the ground.

What’s Blooming

As I mentioned in my introductory post, my goal is to have a garden that is in bloom from April or May to October or November. My early spring garden is coming along nicely. I have a forsythia bush that I put in about five years ago. I moved it and hacked it up last summer, fairly late in the year. And still this April, it is blooming.

The stars of my early spring garden are my hellebores. I put two in three falls ago. They did not bloom the first spring, the second year, one had three blooms. But this year! Both are laden with blooms. Their unusual and delicate looking blossoms belie their longevity. These mysterious flowers will last for weeks.

The primroses passed on by a friend are coming up. I love their cheerful yellow blooms. They are thriving and I hope to be able to divide them this year.

My bleeding hearts are putting on such a show this year! These plants emerge from the ground so quickly and provide a lovely bridge between early and late spring.

On the Horizon

I cannot wait for my columbine and roses to bloom. I have quite an extensive, thriving columbine collection. One morning last week I woke up to see the buds had started growing overnight. And roses are always such lovely and reliable bloomers. They are usually among the first. I have around ten rose bushes by now. My astilbe, which struggled for a couple of years after I planted it, has shot up its buds as well.

Spring is off to a promising start in my backyard garden. I couldn’t be more excited!