**grumble, grumble**
Although I must admit, it's been a fairly warm February, and that's been nice. Then again, we did have that snowy weekend for Valentine's Day. That was nice, too. It snowed, it looked pretty, and it melted away, all within the space of 3 days. Reason number 9834 that I live in the South.
And I must say that the lack of spring arriving hasn't really slowed me down any. I pruned all the butterfly bushes, one warm weekend, and started tearing down the old plants that I let over-winter in order to ensure the critters would have food. Will probably add the detritus to the brush piles. Need to find some runner beans to plant around the brush piles. They are annuals, so I shouldn't have to worry about them getting out of control, grow quickly, and have pretty flowers during the summer. Eventually, the brush piles will be covered with climbing roses, but it will take them some time to cover the piles, and I'd like to be nice to my neighbors, so I'm thinking runner beans.
I need to plant one more Buddleia, even though I said last year I had planted more than enough. I have a pair, planted close together, that are in memory of two of my favorite greyhounds, Hunky & Jeany. Problem is, those two were part of a trio, so I need one more to honor Profile. Profee was a black/white greyhound, and Bluestone Perennials has a new-this-year variety called silver anniversary. It has silver foliage and white blooms, so I'm thinking I'll go with that one.
I have to keep reminding myself that I don't need to plant anything this year other than annuals and maybe some veggies. I really need to give last year's plantings time to fill out before I do any more. That said, I think I'll add Winterberry this year, and if I can find some Elderberry plants, they're DEFINITELY going in. And I read somewhere that my Nyssa Sylvatica is dioecious, so I may have to get another of them. I'm going to double-check that with my local nursery. Good thing is, Nyssa loves wet feet, and I think I have just the spot for it. Two plants drowned in that spot, last year. And we've still got lots of water in our ground.
I've got some vacation time coming up... I'm hoping it will be warm enough to do some outside work. I'm planning a trip to my "local" nursery during that time -- I have to *plan* such trips, because it's at least fifty miles from my house. But it's well worth the drive. They have a huge variety of native plants, and another huge store of knowledge. I'm hoping to sit down with them and talk about my yard, and my plans for my yard.
Meantime, I'm reading "Noah's Garden," and pondering how best to provide year-round food for the native fauna. I'm also wondering how upset my neighbors would be if I tore up a strip of land that is currently nothing but leaves and planted clover for the honey bees instead of turf.
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