BURIED TREASURES

The past few days in Southern Ontario have been warm and sunny and the record amount of snow that has fallen this winter has begun to melt. When Little Bear and I went into the backyard this morning I couldn't help inspecting the gardens. About one-quarter of the plots are still covered in snow, but I was surprised to see several perennial plants starting to sprout out of the ground.

Hyacinths, tulips and crocuses are almost a half an inch high. The Sedum spectabile plants are all popping out of the ground and, soon, I will need to deadhead last year's hardy stems. I bought one small Sedum spectabile many years ago and have separated it half a dozen times and transplanted it to various locations in the front and backyard. 

This plant is so hardy that I recall one year, when my naughty puppy was digging for buried treasure, one stem with its root intact lay on the ground. Instead of tossing it the composter, I planted it in the side garden next to a thirty-year-old florabunda rose bush, from my late in-laws' garden. The replanted Sedum is now larger than the original bush, probably because it's in a sunnier location.

My Bachelor Button plants are thriving, but it's hard to kill these hardy bushes that bloom several times during the spring and summer months. There's no sign of the white trilliums in the back shade garden, but they were slow to grow last year so I'll give them a bit more time. 

In the front garden my wild purple irises are flourishing as they do every year. They really are wild. About twenty years ago, my husband and I were walking our dog, Rudy, who's now in doggie heaven, in a wooded public park and found irises growing on a grassy hill. I know we shouldn't have, but we dug some of them up and planted them at home. In retrospect, I'm glad we did, for that hill was leveled to extend the road. I like to think that I saved the irises from the fate of overzealous developers.

My blue hydrangea bush has lots of buds. I planted it after buying a pot on sale in the grocery store two years ago. They looked gorgeous inside surrounded by my blue and white china collection and I planted it outside, hoping it would bloom again the next spring. It began to bud early last year, but a late frost prevented the plant from blooming. I'm crossing my fingers that this spring's temperatures will stay above freezing.

The wonderful thing about perennial gardens is that every day something different is happening. One plant is beginning to bloom while another has finished. If you plant wisely there will be colour throughout the garden from spring to autumn.