Time is zipping by. As we officially welcome spring, I'm hustling to finish some of the pruning I should've completed in late winter. But every time I walk through the garden, I'm distracted from the tasks at hand by one or another pretty new bloom. And yet I'm also feeling the need to prepare for summer as new bulbs arrive every other day. My head is spinning!
This week, I decided it was time to prune the rest of my Leucadendrons. Cutting back Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' was almost painful.
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| This image was taken in mid-January |
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| This one, captured from the opposite direction, was taken in mid-February |
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| Here are 'Safari Sunset' and 'Blush' after pruning. The best things I can say is that the pruning makes the plants surrounding the Leucadendrons more noticeable - and, with a little time, the Leucadendrons will be back, looking as flashy as ever. |
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| As I was pruning, I put aside stems for a vase. Then to further assuage my sadness about the massive pruning, I spent another hour or more stripping stems of leaves to offer as a giveaway to neighbors. They didn't disappear as fast as most of what I put out on the curb and I even threw some of these away. My husband says that may be because the cut stems blended in with the fresh flush of foliage on the Xylosma hedge. |
There are still a few more
Leucadendrons to prune, as well as a couple more
Pennisetum grasses I'd lost track of but I also started work on cleaning up the area that will front the
Ginkgo tree when it arrives.
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| I decided to widen the flagstone path where it intersects with the back patio, which meant cutting back succulents on either side. I rounded up a couple of flagstones from other areas of the garden, which I still need to dig into place. |
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| I'll replant a portion of these Aeonium 'Kiwi Verde' cuttings but I expect I'll be giving away a lot of them away |
Meanwhile, the dahlia tubers I ordered last year started to arrive, which of course meant that I should pull the tubers I'd dug up and divided at the end of the last season out of the garage. With three more new tubers still in the mail, I've got more dahlias than my cutting garden can handle.
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| I'll move the dahlias from these temporary pots into the raised planters once the spring blooms are gone. I'd conveniently forgotten how many tubers I'd saved last season when I ordered more. I wonder how many people in the neighborhood might be interested in dahlia tubers? |
To complicate matters, another shipment of summer bulbs arrived yesterday.
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| Just where I'd planned to put these, I can't say off-hand |
Despite the start of daylight savings time, there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done right now. Even so, it's important to stop and appreciate the new wonders each day brings.
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| Including the almost fluorescent flowers of Arctotis 'Large Marge' |
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| And don't the white Freesias look nice with the variegated Helichrysum petiolare hiding their flopping stems? I'd forgotten I'd planted any Freesias there. |
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| A minute or two is necessary to ponder whether this will be the year Leucospermum 'Sunrise' decides to bloom for the first time. Are those leaf buds or infant blooms? |
I hope you're seeing more signs of spring too - and that you're taking time to enjoy them. Have a great weekend!
All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
