The St. Patrick's Day parade in Newport, RI, is a fine time to celebrate your Irish heritage or pretend to be from the Old Sod even for the day. But from the looks of this morning's police report in the Newport Daily News, we're more than happy to have spent these early spring days in the back perennial garden at Linden Cottage.
So Mr. and Mrs. O'Greenjeans were able to trim back the buddleia (butterfly bushes) on either end of the garden and store the bunny fencing until we need it again in April.
This past weekend was exceptional, a few rare glorious days in March, warm and sunny and perfect for clearing last year's spent foliage, because its clear to walk and rake freely and not crush any fresh green shoots just before the spring bulbs poke through the cold spring ground.
So Mr. and Mrs. O'Greenjeans were able to trim back the buddleia (butterfly bushes) on either end of the garden and store the bunny fencing until we need it again in April.
The only thing left to do is trimming back the lemon thyme, which you see in the picture above as cocoa brown creeping onto the walkway, and will soon look like this, God-willing.
It's not as slow moving as one would think. Somehow perennial gardens seem to erupt overnight in spring and provide an ever undulating sea of color and scent throughout the summer and autumn.
Before long, the back perennial garden will look like this in late April and early May. Lovely foxgloves and scented hybrid honeysuckle....Ah, small pleasures!
and this.... lovely Japanese peonies and bearded iris.
Later on in summer.....blue echinops, pink soapwort, red monarda, yellow perennial foxglove, climbing clematis, apricot roses, and various Asiatic lilies, if we can keep the bunnies at bay.
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| photo taken earlier before perennial garden actually matured |
