Cloudy, breezy, and cold, but not for long

The weather forecast promises fifties (Fahrenheit) and a sixty degree day or two for the last week of February. I am long past ready for the cold to be over, so I designate this twenty-five degree day as the last of winter. Of course, there will be chilly days scattered through March and even into April, but cold spells will be brief between afternoons that invite spending hours outdoors rather than minutes.

Several flower buds of camellias that swelled in brief spells of mild weather are damaged, but most are intact. These will soon flower, though blooms are damaged when overnight temperatures fall near twenty degrees.

Flower buds of various Pieris japonica show no signs of swelling, but all will flower in several weeks.

There have been flowers every day through this winter, though much of the time hellebores were buried under snow. Flowers of Ozark witch hazels (Hamamelis vernalis) opened the second week of January but spent much of the next month curled for protection. They’ve been joined by several Asian witch hazels with ‘Arnold Promise’ tardy but waiting for the first mild afternoon to burst into bloom. Perhaps tomorrow.

Flowers of Ozark witch hazels are half curled on this twenty-five degree afternoon. Tomorrow, they will fully open again.

I will not wait for short sleeve temperatures before getting started in the garden. Overwintered stems of perennials and grasses will not be chopped until the first weeks of March, but a bit of clearing in the side garden will commence early in the week. A branch of a tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera, below) that arches from the forest over the garden will be cut, opening a narrow path of sunlight into this shaded space.

The removal of the branch of the tulip poplar will welcome sunlight into this shaded space, but flowers will now be far up into the tree canopy. However, the heavy flowers often detach and fall to be gathered and brought indoors.

Two scrubby hydrangeas beneath the tulip poplar will be pulled out along with a few shrubs that have declined in the shade since they were planted in half sun three decades earlier. The gap will be sizable, and I’ve just begun considering all that will fill the hole. A trip to the garden center in several weeks should take care of most of it, and then I’ll work on smaller fillers.

While nothing appears to have perished in this chilly winter, I’m most disappointed by damage from deer that is far worse than any I’ve seen. The leafless Japanese aucubas grazed by deer should recover quickly, but I’m most concerned by rutting damage to several Japanese maples that were a spring’s growth away from finally getting to the minimum visually to fit into this mature garden. I think all will survive, but broken branches and deeply scarred bark will take another year to heal.

I’ll soon be overjoyed with a chainsaw, then a shovel in hand. It’s been a while, too long since I’ve accomplished anything besides planning.