Take off yer MULCH!

Spring has definitely arrived here at Desert Lake!

When the rain stops long enough for me to get outside,

I was busily hauling the winter mulch off of the beds.

I was surprised to see some of the plants already growing back!

Some of them, like the mint, 2 kinds of chives and the catnip, come back every year.

Some plants, though, I did not expect to see returning...

2 kinds of parsley

oregano

lavender 

(this sad little lavender didn't fair so well last year, so I thought it was done for

and had no reasonable expectation to see it again.)

from L-R catnip, oregano, green onions, creeping jenny

Its amazing...to see your garden beds transform magically

from dried up to dazzling!

from L-R:  garlic chives and regular chives and one huge honking rock

I took the opportunity to rearrange some of the decorations in the garden.

More on that in a latter post...stay tuned!

from L-R:  italian parsley and curly parsley

hostas make a comeback

I am not normally into flowers.

I have a firmly held belief that I will not waste my energy, time or 

money on something that cannot provide me with nutrition.

In this case, the hostas were a present from a neighbouring family who were leaving the area.

They said if you want em, we could have em!

So for me, the represent the return of some seasonal friends we miss dearly.

Thanks again DJ Bill and Louise!

from L-R:  creeping jenny, garlic chives, mint, Valerian, horseradish

Above you can see the dramatic reveal!

The right hand side shows the beds covered in dried leaf mulch.

The left hand side shows the soil uncovered.

You can also see on the far left side the small cement pathway into the center

of a stand of Manitoba maples.

The pathway leads to Owen's collection of special sticks...

some are for walking, some are for climbing...

and some are swords...for fighting, of course!

All in all, the garden is recovering nicely from 

the epic and seemingly never-ending winter we just endured.

Soon it will be overflowing....and I'll be in heaven...

PS.  for the record...the creeping jenny was purchased and placed

in an area we wanted to stay low to the ground...ground cover plants specifically

designed to be Owen-proof.  We succeeded...perhaps a little too well...

Jenny is taking over!!!