Last Friday in April

Akebia quinata, no signs of growth...yet..

Friday morning and it has been three days since we have had snow on the ground and rain or snow falling here in central Wisconsin.  I would be doing the Happy Dance if this was March.  As all of you know by a quick peek at the calendar, a handful of days remain until May. I think that is "may", as in, "May I go out and play in the garden Mother (Nature)?"

I have been continuing to prick out and move seedlings into bigger pots and that starts to lead to problems with room versus light.  Dr. Darrel Apps confessed to me he has the same problem in his basement grow room which is three time or more the space of my attic space.  He also said for the garden walk he is thinking blue (the full page story on the up-coming July county garden walk was in the Spring Garden section of the local weekly newspaper)...and that he had to remove his dogwood (verticillium wilt) (EEK!) and that he has a cardinal nesting in his blue spruce ("See!  But oh, so low Pam's (feral) housecat will get them!")

Darrel was busy raking out his front border where he thinks the daffodil 'Tete-a-tete' will bloom in a week.  This is a short, floriferous, very early, quickly clumping, natural looking daff suitable for drifts or woodland planting, appearing very native-looking.  He has it planted in a envious drift across the width of his entire front border which also had a redbud tucked back by the house and stoloniferous dogwood, blue spruce, and a second dogwood alternifolia.

It's a great show from my front porch.

He also confessed he has been out to one of the secret Amish nurseries in the area.  Secret, is sort of code.  All the gardeners pretty much know where they are, but they don't advertise or have a website or phone.  They have nice things though, so gardeners KNOW.

Top pruning on my "dwarf" malus 'Honeycrisp'

Late last summer, I noticed what long shadows my apple tree was beginning to cast on my potager.  It's funny how some plants can be just the right size and then in a season, they are too big.  My apple tree 'Honeycrisp' is supposed to be a graft on dwarf root stock.  I guess, not so much.  I wish I had made the cuts late last winter, rather than this; but regular pruning each year has come to my apple tree.

My forsythia has yet to show any sign of life so if Spring has finally arrived there is very little to show for it yet.

Just 78 days until the Garden Walk...