Spring has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest!

Whew! It’s great to be back among the living. I don’t believe I’ve ever had bronchitis before, but I can tell you, I’d sure like to avoid it in the future. I hope that you all are able to enjoy good health this season and not be set back by the assortment of “bugs” that seem to be in abundance right now. But enough about that, let’s get out into the garden!

Fortunately, most of the time that I was house-bound, I didn’t really want to go outside anyway since we’ve continued to enjoy plenty of cold rain over the past few weeks. Today is different! It’s been sunny all day and I’ve been out touring my garden and making lists of things to do.

Tender, fresh leaves of Acer japonicum 'Vitifolium' captivate the attention of passersby with its unique color and delicate appearance.

Hey! Who planted all those weed seeds? One great thing about steady rain and constant temperatures in the upper 40s to mid 50s is that all the local weeds germinate and grow profusely. I hope this weather holds another day or two because I think I can muster up the energy to pull weeds now that I’m feeling better. I definitely need to lay down a thick layer of bark mulch this year to slow down the weed production. Sure, new weed seed will eventually blow in and germinate in the new mulch, but they pull out much more easily when they’ve sprouted in a fluffy layer of bark.

Picea sitchensis 'Vapenka' just beginning to push its sharp new foliage.

I also need to pull out the last of the old rose garden. I’ve given up on them for now. Some people have great success with roses (in fact, I did too for a while, but my experiments with roses only reinforced my love for low maintenance, four-season conifers). I have a new conifer bed to build this year – it’s the same one I mentioned last year and I just never made the time to get on this big project. Actually, I became distracted by removing a large portion of lawn in another area of the garden and expanded the conifer beds in that area instead. This is the year that I will tackle the re-working of this larger bed. I have big plans for this space, hopefully I’ll have the energy to jump in and get this finished before our week or two of hot summer weather arrives in late July or August.

Most of my Japanese Maples have flushed out their first push of fresh, colorful new growth. The assortment of greens and pinks and reds and orange and gold that I saw this morning were truly an inspiration! So much delicious color on such soft, delicate looking little leaves. In a few weeks their leaves will have completely unfurled into big five to seven fingered open-palmed hands waving their luscious color in the gentle breeze. By that time, more of my conifers should be fully flushing their colorful new growth too!

A rare upright growing form with the deeply cut leaves normally associated with weeping types, Acer palmatum dissectum 'Seiryu' shows off the detail of its tiny leaves and flowers.

Several cultivars of Picea glauca have flushed out nicely by now, and I see some of my Picea omorika and Picea sitchensis cultivars are popping buds too. The Picea englemanii ‘Bush’s Lace’ has flushed a couple inches of its soft gray/green new growth. I see some young cones developing on a few cultivars of Abies koreana and almost all my pines have extended up to fifty percent, or so, of their spring candle growth.

Spring is here! Spring is here!

I hope your gardens have come alive where you live too – it’s a healing sight to behold!

Ed-
Conifer Lover