Hellos and Good-Byes in the Garden

I always thought of spring as a time of hellos. It is a time of great excitement, when I can barely wait to get through that first, essential, eye opening cup of coffee to race outside to see what's new. Because something is, almost every day, once spring decides that it's here. Surprises, like plants that I had given up for dead; now they poke their heads up and seem to wink at me, saying "Fooled you!" New shoots, new flowers , and even new weeds. A bit like having a birthday gift every day for several weeks of the gardening season, it is one of those times that make me know exactly why I love to garden.

There are a few good-byes but I rarely regret them. Getting rid of the foliage of ornamental grasses, for instance, which gave great form and movement to the garden all winter. By now are all broken and scraggly looking. The same goes for the echinacea and other plants which I left standing so that their seeds could provide food for the birds. They were useful, but their time has passed, as has any attractiveness they once displayed.

And it's definitely goodbye to all of the weeds that either survived winter or are now springing up from seeds scattered last season. One of the disadvantages to a warm winter such as we had this year is that many of the weeds that are normally winter killed survived. When I did my first real inspection, to see what spring clean?up was going to involve this year I almost went back indoors, deciding to take up something more predictable, like needlepoint. But all the new things to say Hi to pulled me back to the garden, hoe and weeding knife in hand.

And of course it's goodbye to all the little branch tips on trees and shrubs that were winter killed, or which are heading toward the interior of the shrub, threatening to interfere with air circulation once things leaf out, or all the little skinny extra twigs that I love to take out in early spring so that I get a bush with clean lines and plenty of air.

There are one or two things I see growing but am not sure whether I ought to bid adieu or wait to see if they grow up into something desirable. If I pull them they will certainly turn out to have been desirable perennials. If I leave them they will probably turn out to be weeds with taproots coming out somewhere in Gay Klok's garden in Tasmania. That's just one of those things that keeps gardening exciting.

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