Well last week's assessment of the garden included a whole lot of trying to dig plants out to see how damaged they were. It was amazing how far they splayed out under the snow, ooops I may have stepped on some of the branches of my Needlepoint Jap Holly while trying to "save" it. Worse, it seems I was very forgetful about the location of some of my little guys as I was trying to "help" my bigger plants. My Dwarf Elkhorn Cedar and Chief Joseph Pine were missed by about 1/2 step of my boots crushing them. Note to self: Next year be patient and let the snow melt back. Stay inside with the seed catalogs! I did find a Hardy Camellia busted up pretty bad, I will prune it back to buds below the breaks and see how fast it starts to recover. It is in the front entrance garden, so if it is going to take years to look decent again, it will be moved to the back garden....way back. I will mark the calendar and really give it the eyeball in about 3 months and see how fast the recovery is. If not so good, opportunity will be knocking to try something else in that spot. The reality is if it got busted up in that spot once, it will get busted up in that spot again. Plan for this when deciding what plants will be near your sidewalk or driveway. This is still Pennsylvania, we still do get heavy snow occasionally. Also, a dwarf pine in the back garden is really injured, recovery time will be years. It is next to my little water feature, so it is going to plant heaven. I think a Daphne might work just fine in that spot! Yay for Daphne! :) The little pine will become mulch in the garden, so it's spirit will still be here. I spied Crocus flowers yesterday, yahoo! and snowdrops poking up. It is truely almost here...double yahoo! Today I will go out and prune off the old Hydrangea flowers, ONLY to the first set of buds on the seemingly dead sticks, and cut my Clematis that get wacked (they don't all get wacked in the spring!) down to 12". All pieces of this and that will become part of the garden as compost mulch.

I spent some time this morning trying to get a picture of a sparrow coming in and out of a bird house on my deck for our Facebook page. Of course as soon as I went out with my camera, all the birds flew off. "An intruder in my own garden", I thought. "They all sense my presence, they all know I am here" as I tried to make myself part of a 4x4 post. They weren't buying it. As I got colder (who knew I should put my coat on??) I eventually began to hear birds at the birdfeeder behind me (I was more camouflaged from them). I could hear them cracking open the seeds and all of a sudden I became more aware of my garden in my stillness. The little seed-cracking noises, the chirping of birds close and further back in the garden, the sound of the wind entering my pine trees, then gently starting my chimes singing. Wow I wonder how much we miss when we are all so busy being busy in the garden. "Take time to smell the roses" means more to me this morning than just smelling roses. Have a wonderful day in the garden and make sure to treat yourself to some time being still. :) Happy Day!! Erica   

Well, today is the big day. I know there is still alot of snow out there, but I gotta get out thru the garden and assess the damage all that snow weight caused. I will carry my sharp pruners. Sharp, I said. If you go around making necessary cuts with dull pruners, you are going to get rough cuts, which won't heal as well. I also totally prefer By-pass pruners over Anvil pruners. The By-pass blades pass each other, as scissors would, making for a nice clean cut. The Anvil pruner action is one that smashes the twig/branch against a flat piece, thereby crushing to cut. Doesn't sound to me like a very good way to help a plant heal. We all know a clean cut heals faster than a ripped up, smashed one. The other reason to make sure your pruners are sharp is they then work with you, doing most of the work. What? You say? Of course they are doing most of the work, they are the cutters. Well, yes, but dull blades cause you to have to expend a-whole-lot more energy and effort to make the cut. If your hand or wrist is hurting after a few cuts, you either don't have a big enough pruning tool for what you are doing, or, more likely, your blades need sharpened. It is soooo easy to sharpen your blades. I do my own, stop by HG, bring your pruners and I will show you how. If you aren't a DIY, our service dept can do it for you for a small fee. Back to the garden....so as I am gaining glee for going out today, I am quickly getting an overwhelming fret quality for what damage I am going to encounter. After a few minutes of deep fretting, I have come to the conclusion that the fretting will not make the damage go away. It is. So instead I will spend my time outside pruning, hearing the birds chirping, feeling the breeze wrap around me. If a shrub is so busted up that I doubt it will recover, I will look at is as opportunity to try another shrub. I will be outside, which is why I am going out. I will enjoy, not fret. Switcho-chango, it is good to be in the garden....no matter what..

spring is coming! spring is coming! Happy day! Erica