Still Looking at Sticks!

The shrub border, alley view

I am having a hard time looking at shrubs and telling myself..."They will come..."

Some are alive, but look so sparse.   Growing back from the roots is not an option for everything!

I have been hanging glow in the dark spheres, putting on the seat cushion slip covers, re-touchiing the paint on the garden chairs, and placing empty pots in between waiting for signs of life.  The Japanese peony, I think will be coming entirely from the ground.  No matter how far down I prune, none of the woody material seemed alive, but because this is where the budding material is I left it.  Wait and see...there are those shoots from the ground.

Before...

I clipped branch after branch on the euonymus, no green anywhere.  I left the main truch which has rooted itself to the fence.  A saw, my son, and some dark brown stain need to be accumulated before the trunk is removed.

Yesterday, I also saw the first honey bee, by the pansies.  Today, a bumble bee was working them over.  The daffodils had lots of pollinators, too.  I think there are some hungry bees out there.  My pansies are very popular.  They are almost the only things blooming.

I also cleared the yard of black lawn waste bags (big muscle movements, takes a bit of time).  I prepared the shaded area of my cold frame so I can harden off some parsley, broccoli, and kale in about 10 days.  I planted some seeds; beets, radishes, rutabagas, peas.

The peas and lettuce I planted a couple weeks ago finally made some progress today.

I hope your gardens are warming up a bit more quickly than mine.  Wednesday and Thursday we are supposed to be in for some "unsettled" weather.  (That's a disturbing way of putting it!)