I was out Saturday doing what's always the first chore of the garden: cutting down the grasses. I've learned not to wait too long to do this because the new grass starts growing earlier than one thinks. As I positioned myself and the buck saw (the culms are thick!) to chop down the Ravenna grass, I thought I spied a piece of trash out of the corner of my eye. It was the first crocuses of the year, of course.
Our garden has the 'new haircut' look, with awkward grass stumps everywhere. My compost pile looks like a Monet haystack. I realize looking at the grasses that more than half of the clumps are large enough to split. Yeah!
Sunday I started the traditional second chore of the year: cutting off the old foliage of the hellebores. I amazed at how many I have now. I'm always finding space to plant out seedlings, especially the purple ones. After a few years, I get to see the new (blooming) faces.
The climbing hydrangea has a shadow twin these days.
