Busy in the garden...

Not that it was a terribly long winter or anything, but it's great to see my garden thriving once again... everything is coming out of it's winter slumber!

here is the "new" garden space that was cleared last fall when I cut back the honeysuckle and weeds... I have also divided and transplanted  at least a half dozen purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) from another part of the garden... I intermingled them in with the Day Lily (Hemerocallis) and foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

transplanted hostas from the revamped front foundation garden...

I have decided to leave the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) sapling that grew in the middle of the garden... If I don't decide to keep it as a nourished tree for the property, at least I can let it grow a little more so that the wood becomes useful for something... 

the same goes for the unkown speicies of oak tree 10ft away... 

another rose bush was removed  from this garden... the buds on the virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) are starting to swell...

the front foundation garden has been gutted of random flowers, and replaced by a hedge row of another Ontario native shrub called fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica)... these grow relatively low, flower early and have great fall interest... it may take awhile to fill in this space, but it should be worth waiting for... a single forsythia bush (Forsythia × intermedia 'Nothern Gold) was also planted next to the front door to help give the front yard a little extra colour in the early spring...

the xeriscape garden is looking promising... besides the early weeds, the black eyed susan (Rudbekia fulgida 'Goldsurm'), and purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) have sprouted, but only time will tell if the ornamental and native grasses survived the winter...

both green coneflowers (Rudbeckia nitida  'Herbstonne' or 'Autumn Sun') reemerged from the frosty ground... to fill in the garden, I divided and transplanted most of the tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris) from the back garden here so they flourish in the full sun... the new Dense Blazing Star (Liatris spicata) planted in the fall has yet to show itself...