Yesterday, ProfessorRoush had a bit of work to do, but that first good working day of spring was finally upon me, April 6, 2019. It was initially forecast to rain in the late afternoon, so I reversed my usual spring starting point, the beds in front of the house, and instead I went for everything else. By the end of the day, I had cleaned out all the far beds in the back√, cut down all the ornamental grasses√, transplanted a bunch of rugosa rose suckers to fill in dead spots√,moved some daylilies being shaded by growing trees√. cut off the massive suckers from a purple smoke tree√, put up some of the peony hoops√, planted a purchased yellow twig dogwood√, sprayed the weeds in the buffalograss surrounding the house√, put down crabgrass preventer on the buffalograss areas√, planted some Oriental poppy seed√, fertilized and borer-proofed the lilacs√, put a new washer in a "Y" hose connector√, put up and filled bird feeders√ and visited the store for white paint (to put on the front gate to the pasture√. I've probably forgotten some minor things. All in all, one could say I had a pretty good day.
This year seems to be the perfect forsythia year. I've never seen them look better here in Kansas, likely because it stayed cold until it was warm, and as their buds unfurled we had no rain, frosts, or, heaven forbid, snow to dampen their lively brightness. They're also really late. In the records I've kept for 15 years now, the latest timing of full forsythia bloom was March 28th (well, except for 2018, when we had no forsythia bloom here at all). So we are at least a week later than my latest recorded full forsythia. The closeup above is Forsythia 'Spring Glory', my brightest blooming forsythia. The photo at the left is an unknown-named pair of forsythia planted three years ago. If only the purple 'Ann' magnolia in the foreground would stop being shy and bloom with the forsythia!
Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I was a happy but slightly sore boy!
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