My gardens – all of them – are one of my passions.  In the springtime, I could spend hours out here in the woods – listening to the birds, watching the squirrels scamper from tree to tree,  and having my pets following me around.  It is quiet, peaceful and oh so beautiful, regardless of the season or the “state of the garden”.  I thought it would be wonderful to share it with everyone.

Standing on the deck, looking out at the main hosta garden, I see all of the work yet to be done cleaning out the leaves that have settled in last fall and which have blown in over the winter.  However – it is just April 1st – lots of time yet!

Going down into the garden, I love the blue

of the scilla bulbs.  One of the hosta beds has been planted with scilla bulbs and they welcome us each spring.  They are spreading to adjacent beds – but are just as welcome there.    Plant scilla in the fall with your other spring bulbs and sit back and wait for the spring color show!

Down the rock path to the end of the garden my patch of pachysandra groundcover is such a vibrant green.  Little white flowers will soon adorn the green, but at such an early stage – any green is beautiful.  Pachysandra is an evergreen groundcover.

It will gradually spread, but requires very little maintenance unless it starts to go where you don’t want it to.  I pull a little bit each season that encroaches my hosta – but it only takes a few minutes.

Heading over to the other side of the yard, my main annual / perennial bed has a patch of daffodils reaching up to the sky, soon to

present their brilliant yellow, perfect flower.  We don’t do tulips out here in the woods – from experience, the deer seem to prefer them over other vegetation.  The daffodils not so much.

 

We’ve been out here in the middle of the woods now for 24 years.  One of the first beds we planted in our “magic” soil – our wonderful landscape soil mix –  was the Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart.

I’m always in awe each spring to watch this perennial emerge from the earth.   It has resided here in this bed for so many years – in partial shade in a well drained area.  It reaches a height and spread of about 2′-3′.

The final “first sign of spring” on the garden journey was the incredible buttery yellow of our forsythia tree.

This is just the harbinger of all that is yet to come.  Follow me on this journey this season in “My Woodland Garden”.