Spring Clean Up in the Garden

The garden after spring cleaning

With a pruner and pocket and rake in hand I made my way into the garden Sunday afternoon.  It was a beautiful day in Milwaukee!  It was warm (50's) and dry with a light breeze.  The first real day of spring weather.
I got out early enough this year to prune back some of my woody perennials.  The lavender and sage were both in need of some cleaning out and sheering back this year.  No new growth yet, so I gave them both a much needed pruning.  I also cleaned out some of the dead stems of the perennials in the rain garden as I raked through section by section.  I found lots of maple seeds and horse chestnuts had gotten in among the ground covers.  I would much rather rake out seeds than to pull out rooted seedlings one by one.
The ground is still frozen so the bulbs have not popped out yet with the exception of the snow drops.  I look forward to their bloom this year without all the debris to pick out around their tender stems.
The snow cover we got this winter seems to have done a good job of insulating some of the more tender plants.  I did some moving around last fall and these plants also seem to have come through well.  I hope it didn't protect the nasty bugs as well as the plants, but I bet they enjoyed the snow blanket also.
Get out there soon and clean out the garden beds before the thaw comes and the rains turn the soil to mud.  I know I am ready for spring!

Snowdrops