Slow Progress in the Garden

After finishing one of the islands in my front yard more than a week ago, further progress in the garden was slow due to chilly temperatures, rain or even snow.  There have been many days in which I have simply stayed inside.  

However, when the weather permitted, I continued forward, gradually moving ahead on my gardening.  I next cleared the leaves and the weeds out of the bed in front of my house.  A couple of years ago I had several overgrown shrubs removed, and last year I planted four azaleas in their place.  I wanted to clean up that bed before the azaleas started to bloom.  I was very dismayed to find that the deer had already been munching on the buds.  They had never bothered my azaleas before, but every year it seems that they discover a new taste treat in my garden.  Fortunately they didn't get all the buds, mainly just the ones at the ends of branches.  That bed has been completed and deer repellent sprayed on both the new and the old azaleas.

A few blossoms have already opened on one of the older bushes.

From there I headed over to the flower bed next to the driveway.  I cleared it out, weeded it, and edged it.  This bed is always slow going since as I edge it I have to chop out the tree roots that are continually encroaching on the bed.

This bed, which is a mix of sun and shade, is planted with hostas, ferns, creeping phlox, day lilies, Asiatic lilies, lilies of the valley, columbines, and coreopsis.   You might be able to make out, toward the top of the photo, the clump of phlox which is in bloom.  The columbines and lilies of the valley have buds and soon will be blooming.  There are some bare spots which I will fill in with perennials from other beds that need thinning out.


Yesterday was a lovely, sunny day... chilly at first, but with temperatures that eventually reached the 60s F.  I completed a good portion of the flower bed to the side of the house.

Today, the high temperature is supposed to pass 70 F.  However, the forecast calls for rain today and tomorrow.  My progress will be halted again for a couple days.  Today is the day that I should have returned from my trip to Mexico.  Even though I would have liked to have accomplished more, all of this is a head start that I would not have completed if I had been traveling.