six on Saturday , 12 February 2022

We’ve finally had several days of seasonal afternoon temperatures and sun–offering the opportunity for some major clean-up. That is what four of my six for today are about.

1. The first has to do with eliminating as many greenbriar vines as I could in the wooded part of the garden. The weather was warm and dry, but the ground was still wet, so I could dig deep with a Hori Hori knife to get to some tubers and truly eradicate the these vicious, twining stickers. And I do mean dig deep, as many as 4 to 6 inches and often nearly as many inches laterally distanced from where the vine breaks the surface. It is more likely that the stems will break off before the knife ever gets to heart of the matter as it were. I did eliminate 20 or more plants. Seek, by iNaturalist, identified the species as sawbriar (Smilax glauca).

2. While working on the greenbriars, I watched out for invasive and otherwise unwanted “volunteers” and pulled them as I spied them. Leatherleaf mahonia, holly, and nandina pop up everywhere thanks, I suppose, to the birds. Fortunately at this time of year they can be pulled out easily. The second photo below is of the South’s love-to-be hated privet (Ligustrum). Once it takes hold anywhere, it will generate itself on runners everywhere.

3. Another vine was my third target: English ivy growing around and up into a long neglected forsythia. The ivy was mostly eliminated and the shrub was pruned. More serious pruning is required, though. I’m going to let the forsythia bloom first before cutting it back significantly. The second photo below gives a pretty good idea of the primary bush. I just hope that I am brave enough to carry out the required cuts necessary to give this wild bush a stylish shape. It will be good for the garden, and it should be good for the forsythia.

4. The boarder that I put in just two years ago was becoming overrun in sections with obedient plants (Physostegia virginiana) and liriope. The excesses are cleared out now and the irises can breath again while waiting for other flowers come up.

5. But, my snowdrops have finally come up–in miniature. What ever the size, I’ll take them.

6. Finally I’ll end where the featured photo begins: the daffodils are beginning to bloom. Fortunately, they have begun to multiply in several clusters in the sunnier part of the wooded area.

There is unquestionably much more clean-up and pruning in my future, but that will be for another Saturday. Besides, according to the weather report, I am out of seasonal days for awhile. Another cold blast to be followed by another after a few days is on its way. In the meantime, I direct readers to the site of The Propagator, the hub of our Saturday sharing, to visit gardens in all sorts of climates.