In the 20+ years I have been in the US this is probably the longest and wettest winter experienced. Normally winter brings with it a list of jobs that you go through when the weather allows and in a normal year the garden is in good shape once the clocks change in March. Over 23/24 though it seems to have been difficult to get some momentum going hence a bit of catch up needed. However a bit of planning was done and a few ideas sorted.
Removing last years skeletons from the perennial beds.
The first practical thing done in ‘24 was to get an understanding of the winter casualties – the “death list”. The most notable (expensive to replace) are one of the specimen flowering cherries and a dwarf Japanese Acer. The former happened to be in a slightly water logged part of the garden whilst the Acer seemed to be impacted by last years summer heat and went into winter a bit stressed. There had been quite a few casualties in the crevice garden.
One of the winter highlights helping to get us through to Spring.
The 4 sections of AndAllen all had different priorities -in the woodland garden we are in year 3 of a 5+ year plan so tidying out unwanted natural plants and some further planting of understory framework plants would continue. The crevice garden is all about trying to fill the space vacated by deceased plants – sounds easy but experience to date says that finding robust plants is definitely not easy.The front garden and perennial garden just needed tidying up and any gaps filled.
First sign of Spring.Vivid red twigs still showing winter color.
The weather delays were further compounded by the need to travel back to the motherland for a few weeks to deal with a family matter. Bad news for the Spring garden plan, but on the plus side, this would be a real test of how resilient the garden and its planting is. Reality dawned – it was highly unlikely that I would get ahead of Mother Nature and I would be working hand to hand throughout 2024.
spring cherry blossom!
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