Hard Graft

Hellebore (lenten rose) in bloom

High 51F, low 31F, sunny

Today’s big projects were supposed to be dividing and replanting the massive clump of miscanthus from back by the grape arbor, and clearing the soil that’s built up on the small pad behind the garage, so that I can set up my greenhouse.

I got part of one of those things done. Yay?

Digging the clump of grass out (which actually turned out to be three large clumps) was a massive operation, and in the end I was only able to dig up and divide one of them, placing the resulting more-sensibly-sized clumps in 5(!) different places in the magnolia bed.

So I still need to clear space for the greenhouse, and before I dig up the other two clumps I need to decide where I think I’ll want to put the resulting 8-10 clumps. I like the idea of having them as a consistent feature throughout the front/size beds – that kind of repetition is something I’m sorely lacking at the moment – but holy cow that’s a lot of grass to find a home.

The planning activities du jour included walking through where I think I want my woodland path to run this year. There’s some treefall to clear, and lots of multiflora rose to banish. Plus there seems to be a grove of just volunteer rose of Sharon in the woods, which is kind of mindblowing, since I didn’t think they liked heavy shade like that. I’ll need to thin some of those out, and maybe move them to new homes. Once the daffodils go over this year, I think I’ll be dividing and shifting some of them too, just to fill in a few gaps. I may also put some more ferns back there. Lord knows I have plenty. I also took photos of all the cultivated beds at 1:45, as part of a study I am trying to do to see how much sun some of these beds really get. Obviously February isn’t July (if nothing else, the lack of magnolia leaves will make a huge difference in some spots), but it’s a start. The plan is to take photos of each of them at different times in the day, and see how the light progresses.

The daffodils look almost ready to open, and the hellebore has a lovely purple bloom. There are even tulips trying to push up in front of the porch (I’m always vaguely amazed that those survive the winter). Given that there’s a chance of snow later in the week, I’m just holding out hope everything survives.

What’s in bloom