April 22, It is Earth Day! Appropriately, 70 degrees, sunny, a perfect day to spend in the gardens.

Once the office and house chores were finished this morning I began in the bed that runs parallel to my North facing studio window. I see this every day. Last year it got overgrown with “volunteer” Virginia blue bells. They are lovely, in their place, but are aggressive and invasive. It was time to liberate the peonies.

Once the weeding was done, off to the greenhouse. Snapdragons seemed just the right thing to put in at the edges of this bed. They are small now but will fill out quickly. The parade of color is off to a good start.

In the East bed, the daffodils are lush. It has been cool enough that they are holding their blooms very well, as is the forsythia outside the studio door.

In the south beds, the mini tulips are fun, the mid season tulips are doing well and the clematis has leaves! (no photo of the clematis quite yet)

The dominant color seems to be a cheery yellow right now. There are touches of red here and there along with blues and light purples: periwinkle, grape hyacinth, pansies. The perennial Bachelor Buttons and tall Aliums will bloom in a week or two, deep blue/purples! As the weather warms, we will have the Johnson’s Blue Cranesbill Geraniums and the more common pink Cranesbills. Periwinkle is blooming and the pots have dark blue pansies.

This afternoon Beau and I went to the river. Spring melt-off in the high country has begun and the river is rising. The snow pack is minimal again this year. We are anticipating another very dry Summer.

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The day after.

Rain! off to the studio instead of the garden.