Big Rose Needs Support

I've been eager to jump into some of the projects in my garden that will require my woodworking abilities, and although I've dabbled a bit over the winter and planned, it's time to really get busy!

The first project is this climbing rose, 'Zephirine Drouhin' next to the driveway.

First cut, then rake - sometime

Limited garden time and relatively small weather windows (times when it's not raining or sopping wet) means that my spring garden cleaning happens a little differently this year.

Usually it's chop or pull or prune, then rake, pick up, and trek to the compost pile. Not this year though.

I guess it's spring?

So it seems that spring is actually here now. Not that I have much time to notice, but I'm getting out there to do some of the spring chores so I'm seeing clear signs.

Just quick look at what's going on around me. Not my tree above, but can't help but enjoy and appreciate parking lot plantings that look like this!

Let's talk bamboo survival

It's the time of year when my thoughts turn to the garden, and in my garden that really means "bamboo".

So let's look at some bamboo!

So warm, until it's not

This is what you get when you have warm, mild weather for a while...

...and then a night of 18ºF (-8ºC). Those plants that emerge early -- even earlier than normal -- get melted.

Bamboo tasks getting bigger

Although the warm weather has left, it was clear and dry this weekend. With a long list of bamboo-related chores to get done, I decided to tackle one on Sunday that was overdue.

This is my Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'. It's growing next to my driveway in the back and is probably the most impactful plant in my garden.

Bamboo cleanup continues

One of my biggest springtime garden tasks is cleaning up the bamboos. Sometimes this means thinning and tidying the big, arborescent bamboos, but it also means pruning or mowing the groundcover and shrubby bamboos.

Last Thursday while the warm weather was still here I tackled the front yard bamboos. This year it's easy to tell what foliage to trim off: pretty much all of it!

Pond Makeover, part 2

Did you miss part 1 of my pond makeover? Monday started with more bailing, and this is when it started getting really, well, crappy.

I'm not really sure how deep the muck was at the bottom, but it was at least 6" (15cm). It could have been double that. Those buckets got heavy.

Pond Makeover, part 1

Yesterday I mentioned that the sight of my pond stopped me from continuing with my spring garden cleanup, and teased that today I would reveal what nastiness I enjoyed next.

So I now hesitantly show you my pond, which was once the jewel of my garden. A leak created last summer resulted in months of neglect, the end result being a pond unfit to even show in photos. Sunday I had enough and decided to do something about it.

Starting bamboo cleanup, and then...

Our warm weather has not only put me in a mood for some garden cleanup, but it's given me some extra time to do it too. Logically that doesn't make sense, as early spring seems like it should mean less time for cleanup, but for some reason I feel like I am getting an early start, so more time.

In any case, I eased into the huge cleanup job (or an enormous number of small cleanup jobs if you'd rather think of it that way) by tackling a bamboo.

Something cool going on here

So I noticed something just the other day about the Pachypodium lamerei that overwinters in my living room...

Besides the fact that it's a really cool (and dangerous) feature here.