What Else We've Been Up To

After many sunny days and much opportunity for working in the garden, the rain has come to give us some rest.

Spring is happening here fast and furious, and keeping up with the garden feels that way too.

Here is some of the proof: the remains of the rose tree/cherry tree, the clipped sword ferns, prunings from various shrubs, the tops of the cut back salal, and more.  We'll have to rent a truck this week to haul it to the yard waste station.  We have two large yard waste bins, but they were full the first day of the two week cycle.  That's where the other rose prunings are along with who knows what.

So what does all of this look like?

 Here I spent hours digging out variegated Bishop's Weed.  It's a pretty foliage plant, but a thug, whose underground runners are very invasive.  I decided it was finally time to tackle it.  I will still have to get after the remnants that have spread into the adjacent plantings, but that will be piecemeal.  I did cut the bottom out of a deep nursery pot and replanted one clump. Now there is room for a few new plants!

I dug the dwarf lambs ears that border the rose bed, divided them and replanted. 

Tom worked up one of the raised beds and planted the dahlias.

 The salal is trimmed and hydrangeas and butterfly bushes pruned.

 Overwintered pots are coming out of the greenhouse.

 Tom has been tending to his geranium cuttings and has started seeds of tomatoes and annual flowers for the cutting garden. 

Tom's bonsai have come out from under the cloche to catch the rain and will soon be moved to their summer display benches.

 Espaliered fruit trees are pruned and will soon be blooming. 

And lots more is blooming too. 

Yesterday we had the grand kids for the day to keep us hopping, and then we went to a Sounders game in the evening.  Seattle lost this one, but we had fun in the city and at the stadium, following all the rituals. The rain stopped and held off until sometime late in the night.

Now it's Sunday morning and the rain is tumbling down.  It's  welcome in our garden, and we're happy to admire our work from inside today.