On a mild, late February afternoon I couldn’t resist. Much clean up was done earlier in the day, and now an area of evergreen sedge (Carex ‘Evergold’) was cut to the ground to reveal snowdrops that have long been quite tangled and barely visible. Plans were made to dig the largest clumps at the ideal time, immediately after flowering, then to pull away any roots of the sedge before dividing and replanting the snowdrops. This is long overdue, and once accomplished snowdrops would cover more ground and be more visible than peeking out from the sedge clumps.

But, with the sun on my back and after a winter with too little activity, I couldn’t stop. And against whatever better judgment I might have, the snowdrops were dug just at the point that color was beginning to show. Happily, two days later all are doing well, so thankfully my enthusiasm to squeeze in this task was rewarded rather than it becoming a huge blunder.

I am uncertain if transplanting a division of the ‘Evergold’ sedge to this area along the front walk a few years ago was a mistake. It has spread to fill an area that was bare for too long, but certainly the mistake was not remembering the snowdrops were there, and then not moving the snowdrops before the sedge invaded.

No need to list blunders made over thirty three years in this garden, but there have been more than a few. Many have been fixed with a bit of digging, and the mixing of carex and snowdrops is far from a catastrophe. I am pleased that I finally got around to fixing the problem, and that even though the snowdrops were transplanted too early, all seems to have worked for the best.