Winter's Hasty Retreat (I Hope)

The sun was blazing this morning and temperatures for the next four days are set to soar above the freezing mark. It's the February thaw (usually we get a January thaw but that didn't happen this year. Better late than never.)

Here's the snow retreating from the edge of the nearly-all-native woodland walk.

The moss phlox is looking a little worse for wear but I expect it to put on a vibrant spring-time show. When I planted it last spring, it was little more than a sprig of green about 3cm long. It put on quite a bit of growth in season one, so I'm hoping for a spectacular season two.

Recognize this? It doesn't look like much now but that's foamflower. I am sooooooo excited to see how it does this year. Like the moss phlox, the plants were wee when I put them in. I had eight and lost three to squirrel activity. The five that made it had the most beautiful little mounds of foliage at the end of last season. This year I am counting on some blooms.

I spend a lot of time in the garden coming up with ideas for how to get rid of a little bit more of my existing lawn. But on this sunny February day I'm going to celebrate this much maligned turf. Just look at how lovely and (sort of) green it is.

The warm spell is supposed to last all week. Needless to say, this has unrealistically raised my expectations that we'll breeze through February and March without further extreme winter weather and that planting season will soon begin. Ah well, a gardener can dream (but only for a little while longer.)