I did it. I got out and got dirt under my fingernails. The bags of dahlia rhizomes that have been sitting on my dining room table for weeks had started to sprout in their little bags, and we need to clear the table off to do our taxes, so out I went. The last set of dahlias in the Unless garden froze and rotted in the ground. (Who knew they had to be dug up at the end of the season? Okay, maybe YOU knew. I didn't.) They are large plants, once they get going, so I could only fit about seven in the stone ring out front, if I didn't want to dig up the lupins and pincushion flowers that have already started sprouting there as well. I still have thirteen rhizomes to find homes for. Maybe I'll put one or two in the vegetable garden, to encourage pollinators to visit there. Maybe some should go on the south side of the garage, underneath where the hollyhocks will be popping up soon. And maybe the last set should go alongside the flagstone patio, where naughty Murray has been digging giant holes and shredding the flowers planted there last year (including a prized rose from the best nursery in town). Apparently the new neighbor to the south has dogs who must be barked at in the most aggressive, vegetation-destroying way possible. Wherever the remaining dahlias go, they need to go soon. Just because I was able to go on a day's drive and see snow yesterday doesn't mean that the growing season will wait for me around here.
I have been amazed at how early spring has come to town, and I've been caught flat-footed in a few places. I knew more than a week ago that the lilacs were starting to wake up, and today I found that they are covered in tiny purple buds just waiting for one or two more warm, sunny days to unfurl in fragrant glory. Zoe's lilac out back, and the dwarf Korean lilac under my bedroom window are behind the power curve, or rather, sticking with the old Colorado calendar rather than the updated mid-climate change version. The rest are on target to surround Smith Park West, ready to live up to their new designation as the official park flower. The hyacinths (standard and grape varieties) started blooming last week, and as of a few days ago, several daffodils have brightened up the front lawn. If someone would kindly give me a kick in the pants, I'd be able to find the motivation to cut out the remaining dead flower stalks from last year, and clean the debris from the beds, so that the bright purples and yellows would be more visible.
I found that my peonies have started pushing up through the soil in the back, in the spot where Murray and Barley hold their Best Friends Club meetings, and there are daylilies trying to sprout there as well. Perhaps some more wire fencing is called for on that side, to mirror what I've used on the south to try to save the roses from the same Wheeled Menace. Now that the nectarine has officially bloomed, I think I'm over the idea of snow. Which means that I'm sure to get some, right about the time the rest of the fruit trees come alive, right?
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