I was too tired and too busy yesterday to post these, so it’s Sunday when I’m writing this, but I decided in the end to plant the little cups of roots, and the five spicebush. I put the spicebush with the existing stuff, mixing in the quarter bag of garden soil that I had, then mulched it with about 6″ of dead leaves, held in place with last summer’s flower stalks. Not pretty, but it’ll keep them from freezing, since they came from TN last week.

P scored me three bales of straw–yay! He asked D whether he knew anyone who’d deliver it, and of course, D knows everyone, so it appeared on the patio while I was down by the creek, planting. Good mechanic to have…knows everyone in the whole damned town, and always willing to help. Nice guy.

Since I had insulation in the event of freezing temperatures or an ice storm, I planted my roots that I have so far. I wanted to level the ground on the south side, by the creek, but it remained stubbornly frozen in spite of incredibly warm temperature, so I had the bright idea to use the flower beds I’d made on the west side. These are all woodland flowers, shade to part shade, and they’re all early spring blooming, so I wanted them in the ground. I spent enough on dirt last year for these beds, but the seeds didn’t grow well, so I guess I’ll get my money out of the dirt this year. I planted Virginia bluebell, lily of the valley, bloodroot and columbine in the bed with the foxglove that did finally grow.

In the bed with the hollyhock that struggled (and got eaten a bit) last year, I planted wild phlox, and some lily of the valley. The stick marks the end of the phlox, so I’ll know where I can plant something else…maybe dwarf larkspur.

Charlotte and Co. have been nibbling, but my American elderberry is leafing out. A bit early, but that’s a fairly well-protected area, and they’re native plants, so I assume they know what they’re doing.

It was a bit muddy down there.

I held back five columbine plants. I might put them in with the rest, or I might plant them up by the patio today. Probably the latter…hedge my bets a little. I love columbine flowers, and I want to see some, somewhere in my yard!