Late Winter Garden Maintenace

     I just spent the past three days getting my garden up in Bozrah, CT ready for the spring and I still have more to do! This family cabin has been around since the 1930's and is quite a throw back to those times.  Bathroom facilities are limited to the outhouse which you will see in my pictures. Water is drawn from a well and there is a pump in the kitchen where it comes out of.  It's not for everyone but I enjoy its amenities. I finally spread all the the river stone out, 10 tons of it to be exact. Next time I make it up here, hopefully in a week or two, I will to start dividing perennials that need it. I will of course have extra to give out or find a new home for.  I won't even to begin naming plants because there are just to many and its still so early yet.  I do see my Dicentra popping up along with some early flowering perennials.
    

*One rule of thumb I have is not to remove or blow leaves away from all your flower or growing beds till early spring.  Leave them alone int the fall.  They act as a protector from the winter elements and will help protect seeds produced from self seeding perennials.  I have so many seedlings due to this practice. 

As you can see I distributed inch-size river stone throughout all pathways and everything else you see in following pictures are planting beds. You can see the difference with the time of the year with a pictures I have posted with this entry from previous posts taken during spring/summer-what a transformation!

 This picture is from a different angle from the first one in the post-they were both taken from the roof of my cabin to see the stone work from above.

This is the newest area of the garden where some space got freed up due to the outhouse being moved from its original spot which is just right of that stump in center of photo.

 This next area is the Northeast corner of the garden which gets the most sun. Next couple of pics will give you a ground level view so you can get an idea of its openness.

Eventually this is going to be a picnic area with large stones in back center acting as a foundation for a homemade BBQ grill.

Have to give credit where credit is due, this wall in the below pic I dubbed "Julie's Wall".  It was the last of the major stone work to go in the garden.  My sister Julie built it a few years back and to the right of the wall (which is not seen in the picture) she had a beautiful hand made copper trellis which blew down in a storm.  I think the weight of the trumpet weed contributed to that.  I plan on re-erecting it sometime this spring for my morning glories to take hold of.  This is the low spot in the garden and plenty of sun so growing specific varieties is unlimited.

 Just a view looking south from back of garden in below pic. Center island with Holly and Pieris is a nice shady damp spot where wet shade perennials thrive.

     I am still thinking about what is going to take over here, so far its just the Callicarpa shrubs, but its an open ballot for the perennials. Some joe pye weed likes to make its mark along with some stray foxglove.    I have about Five Callicarpa and have already pruned them down to about a foot or so which are over to the right of screen not seen. Just decided next time I am up these Callicarpa will get transplanted to left side of pic along wire fence (below pic), they take up to much space where they are now. This is the perfect time of the year to do this. They will fool you come late summer with how big they get, which is usually 6-8 ft in a single season for me. 

Below Picture is a East facing view from outhouse-a newly cut down tree lost in last storm has paved the way for sunlight and sun loving plants. I have a 'Lil'Kim' Rose of Sharon, Mock Orange, hybrid Kalmia and a bunch of small lilac seedlings just planed last year. Should look great in a few years.