The temperatures have become steadily warmer and have really fueled growth in the garden. One negative side effect, as least for me, is the onslaught of pollen from the wind pollinated pines and oaks. I have had to deal with the allergies every Spring my entire life!
When it rains during this time I can breathe for a few hours as the rain cleans the air temporarily! You can see how it coats everything.
Side walks are covered for a week or two and the rain washes it into the low areas.
I would like to just stay inside and pray for rain during all of this but their is work to be done!
One of the first chores in the Spring is to search the lawn for seedlings from garden plants. The lawn grass usually doesn’t wake up from its Winter nap until later in Spring so you can easily spot seedlings such as Spiderwort.
It’s also a good time to move shrubs that have out grown their spaces.
This Gardenia ‘First Love’ is now shaded by a nearby Asian Magnolia that has grown rapidly the past few The plant came apart into three plants! So now I have three!
The path from the patio to the bird feeders is experience a rapid growth of wild strawberry and evening primrose! It should be amazing in May when the pink evening primrose is blooming!
And the Kerria are in bloom.
On the Coast, where I grew up, I remember older gardeners would tie up the foliage of Spring blooming bulbs to get it out of the way. This still allows it to nourish the bulbs for next year. I thought I would try it!
A good example of how plants spend their first year putting down good roots before top growth is this perennial sunflower. Last season it grew about knee high and produced only a few blooms. This Spring there are about five shoots coming up so far. It should reach five or six feet by Fall and be loaded with blooms!
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Arthur in the Garden! 
Spiderwort is that also called nut grass? My mother-in-law says pulling it out isn’t as good as cutting it with a sharp knife and not letting what’s left get any oxygen. Doesn’t seem to matter what I do. It always comes back. 🙂
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No!, Nut grass is definitely a weed! Spiderwort has blue, white or pink flowers and is in the Wandering Jew family. Its hardy in most of the USA>
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Thanks. I’ll have to let one of them bloom to know if I’ve got it. I just know it isn’t the regular grass.
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Wow, that is a lot of pollen! I also use wild strawberry as a groundcover. I like it a lot, Just have to wack the stolons back every once in a while.
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You don’t see Kerria japonica used that often-it’s good to see it. Yours looks like a double flowered variety. Mine is a single, and won’t be blooming for a while yet.
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I use to suffer every spring and fall. A trip to an ENT and an operation for a deviated septum cleared-up most of my problems.
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Work, work, work! But that’s what it takes to keep everything looking GREAT and keep them in their place. Great thing about perennials is that they spread somewhat and you can put them here and there and give a few away.
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It does keep me out of trouble!
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