Spring
comes slowly to the garden, starting early and then taking
its own sweet time tantalizing us with a bloom here, a new
leaf there. I think it is done in a conspiracy with Mother
Nature who does the same with the weather, teasing us with
a couple of days so beautiful and warm we want to put away
our winter woolies, then clobbering us with a storm of rain
from the south and wind from the east that leaves us shivering
in our boots
This
unpredictability makes it hard for me to describe what
will be going on in the Butterfield Cottage garden
when you read this but here’s my best guess.
First,
the crocuses will have finished blooming.
Second,
the primroses will be in bloom. We have some perfectly
marvelous ones brought to us by Mary Alice Cole who says
they are the native ones that grow in the woods. Despite
my best research efforts, I cannot give you their proper
name but I
can boast of their merits. They
grow in healthy looking mounds, |
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are
covered with pale lavender flowers lasting the entire spring,
nothing seems to bother them much except hot sun – for
the most part, even the slugs and deer leave them alone. You
have to divide them with a sharp shovel or a knife but then
the parts will simply form new blooming mounds. What more can
you ask of a plant?
Third, the roses and the apple tree will have received their
winter pruning and will silently be preparing for their role
in the late spring pageant.
Fourth,
the garden club will be covering all the flower beds with
a thick layer of garden mulch. We get this beautiful light
fluffy mulch from Laurelwood Farm and use it to enhance the
soil, retain moisture and help subdue weeds (we hope). The
garden is built on sand and rocks as is much of Seaside and
the initial planting soil was pathetic. It was the perfect
example of the old folk-saying, “You couldn’t raise
an umbrella on that soil.” Thus, year after year we work
at improving it knowing that nothing helps a garden more than
good soil.
Amid all
these predictions, one thing I can tell you for sure - if,
when visiting the garden, you encounter those garden
club ladies with the shovels and wheelbarrows, steer clear
or they’re sure to put you to work.
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