Month End Views & We Have a Winner

mystery mini Daffodil

I haven't done any end of the month views (as suggested by Helen the Patient Gardener) for several months because the garden looked exactly the same at the end of February as at the end of December: snow covered. But what a difference March has made. Like Cindy, at From My Corner of Katy, I show the garden warts and all. (See her "Through the Garden Gate" series.) The view from atop the playset shows the pieces of a project I'm working on with the girl.

We're making a twig sculpture, the parts of which can be seen in the lower left corner. I should have moved the blue pot, as it's blocking the view of some Crocuses in full bloom. The watering can signals how dry it has been. I've finally used up the last of the water I drained from the rainbarrel last fall.

The view of the southeast corner, with the 'Pink Lady' Hellebores just starting to bloom.

It doesn't look like much from above, but at ground level, the Anemonella (Thalictrum thalictroides) is in bud. (One of these days I'll get a good shot of it.) It's one of my favorite wildflowers, maybe one of my favorite plants. Its deep maroon foliage fades into the mulch from a distance. So much of the March garden needs to be appreciated close up and personal.

The view from the patio shows another project on which I'm working.

I'm using the chunks of concrete I dug up last year to make a path.

So far, so good. I have lots of material with which to work.

That's concrete from a different hole near the end of the long border. The Narcissus 'Ice Follies' will probably start blooming this afternoon.

The woodland garden is coming to life.

The Hepatica nobilis var. acuta is in full bloom, and the Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot) just started blooming.

I think it's going to be a good year for them.

The photo doesn't do justice to the back of the woodland garden, where the Mertensia virginica (bluebells) have started budding and the Stylophorum diphyllum (Celadine Poppy) has leafed out.

There's even a Daffodil, but why only one is blooming is beyond me.

On the north side of the house, the Hellebores are starting to bloom and the Pulmonaria is forming buds. I lost one of the Pulmonarias over the winter.

There's also Sanguinaria in there too, and lots of Asarum canadensis, the wild ginger, just starting to come to life.

I'm ashamed of not cleaning out these containers yet.

I put them there after we put the fountain away for the winter. We'll take it back out in May. Those little Daffodils are in bud, but probably won't be in bloom for several days.

On the other side of the front walk,

the Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) is forming buds, as are the Daffodils and the Scilla are coming into full bloom. I already cut down the grasses so the Pulsatilla vulgaris will be visible when it starts to bloom.

That's it for the views, now on to the news: congratulations to Benjamin Vogt, of The Deep Middle, the winner of the Seed Keeper Kit. For everyone else, thanks for participating, and if you want your own kit, visit their website. I'm already using mine.*

I forgot to mention that thanks go to Kerrie and Carol of the Seed Keeper Company for donating one for the contest, and thanks also go to the boy for doing the drawing.

*Freebie alert!! I was given a Seed Keeper Kit.