Several mild days have encouraged me to get out to divide and transplant crested irises, two orchid varieties, black mondo grass, disporopsis, hellebores, and a few others into the expansion of the front garden border that was begun in December. The front of the border was long ignored and difficult to see from the road with a downward slope and overhanging Japanese maples. The addition is long overdue though the timing to get started is less than ideal.

I planned to wait on the planting until March, but I’ve been impatient to get moving after finally splitting two large boulders that were far too large for me to move. Eight tons of boulders were dumped several weeks ago. Most were rolled or carted and dug into place along the expanded front border without much struggle, but the two monster boulders were drilled, wedged and thumped repeatedly with a sledgehammer to split into more manageable pieces. One sledgehammer met its demise, but a new, sturdier version finished the job.

A few mounding evergreens will be added in spring when the garden centers restock. I’ll be planting a few mahonias to continue the collection that was paused years ago when appropriate spaces were tight. Some are questionably cold tolerant, including ‘Indianola Silver’ (Mahonia eurybracteata ‘Indianola Silver’) that has been ordered for mid-March delivery, though similar mahonias have perished following a few years of steady decline. I’m presuming that this space is protected from the worst exposure to our winter cold, though my understanding of microclimates is questionable.

While the Christmas rose hellebores (Helleborus niger, above) are flowering a few weeks late, the Ozark witch hazels (Hamamelis vernalis, below) are precisely on schedule. The first glimpse of color cracked open in late December, but now most buds are opening and full color is expected in a few days to meet the mid-February schedule.

The Ozark witch hazel is the least showy of the garden’s witch hazels with small, rusty yellow petals. The Asian hybrids that follow in a few weeks are the brightest in color and the most floriferous, and they’ll continue until the late winter flowering of bulbs and other shrubs announce the arrival of spring.

But, for now, the busting of boulders and a few emerging flowers on a mild day were all the motivation I needed to get outside, trowel in hand.