Favorite Season Of The Year

I could spend the entire day outside when it's like this. And it's a good thing I feel this way since that's about how it goes. Outstanding blue skies and temps in the sixties...it just doesn't get better than this. Know it won't last, so I'm making the most out of it "working" in the gardens to get them ready for, no not winter, spring. The bulbs are in, the lawn is done, and now it's just cutback, cutback, and then some more cutting back. My idea of spring is walking through the gardens with a cuppa joe in hand and seeing the new growth emerge. There's much to be done and I can't think of a single thing I would rather be doing or a better place to spend the day. This really is my comfort zone. So, with pruners in hand, I'm out to enjoy the day. Hopeful that others out there are also able to spend at least part of their day being outdoors.

BURRRR!

I never get used to the weather here...one day sunny and 85 degrees, the next, snowy and 35. I've come to think of it as "Extreme Gardening". Lugged the cherry toms into the greenhouse on Sunday, just can't say goodbye to them yet. At a full 7' and in a 24" pot, this was no easy task. Otherwise, the annuals in container gardens were cut back and tossed, knew they would not get through the next several nights in the twenties; except for the Hot Lips Salvia, Violas, and Nemesia Opal Innocence that have sloughed off the cold and snow to carry on through fall. The best way for me to keep up with seasonal changes is to list out my chores. Just seeing them on paper makes them less overwhelming. I don't "prioritise", I just jot them down as I think of them and then have that feeling of satisfaction when I cross them off. It's a long list and even though I already know I will not get to cutting back all of the thousands of perennials in the gardens this year, it's on the list anyway. Besides, if it wasn't for these can't-garden-today days, the house would never get a going over. Time to stoke up the fire and scrub down the stove.