A walk in the woods- April 10, 2016

April 10, 2016. Spring is here. We have even passed the 13 hour of sunlight point. Spring has actually slowed down, which is a good thing. What I mean is that it has gotten/stayed cool. A few days of 70+ temperatures will accelerated everything in the garden, finishing some of the wonderful spring flowers. Friday night of this week it got down to 26 on our front porch. The hellebores were all bent over the next morning. They perk back of course.
If spring slows down it means that the daffodils last for a long time. There is this one single daffodil, perhaps the old variety called King Alfred, that must have blooming now for two weeks.
If the garden were stopped in time, this would be a good time.

Work in the garden does not slow down. I am trying to finish my garden paths, lining them with bricks and then filling them in with the wood chips obtained a month ago.

Last week I showed you the winners from previous winter contests. Predictably the voting was incredibly split.

The Siberian Iris from 2009 got the most votes. Here is that picture. Aren't the really big pictures fun. Let's hear it for rain drops. I could have a rain drop picture week one time.

Here was the final count of your votes"
Siberian Iris  8
Pink waterlily  6
Double Bloodroot   6
Crocuses 5
Pink Poppy pair  4
White water lily from 2012    2
Leucojum 1 (my that is hard to spell)
Pink Poppy from 2016   1

For your feature this week I want to show you these pictures from last Sunday.


One week ago Julia and I went for a walk in the woods. We went to Ryerson Woods. It is a park just south of the Fairgrounds on the south side of Iowa City. It has a wonderful up and down 1.5 mile loop throughout woods where in the spring there are just about ore wildflowers than any other woods I have seen.

Here are pictures. As I have said before if you click on a picture you should be able to view them like a slide show.




That's it for this week. There is so much to do. The poor plants inside really do get neglected. I just want to throw them outside because I do not have the time to take care of them. I watch the forecast and will take a few out when it stays above freezing. This coming week however it is suppose to be below 32 several nights. But their time is coming.

We had the spring sale yesterday, in the cool but sunny weather. It is always wonderful to see people I have seen over the years. As you may know I really enjoy talking plants with people. I learned yesterday that 35 degrees with sun and no wind is delightful. I was of course wearing my winter coat. I do continue to pot things up, as space dictates. If you are in the neighborhood come by. You can email me when you would like to come. That address is
philip.mears@gmail.com

I close with the star magnolia. It is one of those garden occupants that is enjoying a long season this year.


Have a quiet week. Bluebells are coming.
Philip