Thawing out.

What a lovely day! Minnesota does not usually experience upper 70s this early in April. This is even hard to come by in May. Come to think of it...June can be a little chilly too. I will take it. I was greedily adding up how many months of temperate weather we may end up with this year...if this holds then we are talking SIX MONTHS. With two months of not so awful on either side. March was okay by our standards and I am going on the assumption that October will be a similar situation. So EIGHT MONTHS WITHOUT SNOW?! I have ruined it by writing it down. Polar vortex probably heard and is on its way as I type. But if you need some proof that spring is here in Minnesota. Enjoy our crocus population. I planted about 50 corms last fall and by some small stroke of luck, the squirrels didn't find them all. We have two kinds and I could just stare at them all day. But then I might miss the tulips that have just poked their fleshy snouts through the surface. I will be keeping a close eye on them. I'm in charge of the beautiful flowers in our landscape. I did get a little risky and bought iris bulbs and peony tubers. I got home and found that nearly EVERY site on gardening recommends planting them in the fall. In my defense, the display at HD was tremendous- I could barely get past it without something falling into my cart. At anyrate, I did find one video on youtube that said it was okay to plant them in the spring so I did. I did the iris in containers and we'll just see how THAT turns out. I think one of them was the main course of a squirrel dinner last night but I could be wrong. So things are happening in the gardens and beds around the house. I am sad to say the bed under the living room window will have to be taken completely down and rebuilt. I was going to put a peony in there but the reality was a bed of mostly black woodchips over landscaper cloth that has bunched up here and there in a most unattractive way- under it all is some pretty worn out and very packed...earth? I don't think there's much that will grow there and it just really has to all be ripped out. The biggest issue will be the biggest boulder. It is large, ugly, and nobody wanted it last summer. I will try again. Hey, want a boulder? You just have to come and get it. Seriously. Wish I could set it free in the wild but it is really big and it is going to be a son of a button to move. I had to have some assistance in freeing the poor dogwood by the mailbox- it was rootbound above the cement structure holding up the mailbox. Ilike it had been winding itself around the post and clinging to the cement but had nowhere to go. Tom had to help and I ended up on my behind when it finally popped free. I'm hoping it will remember what dirt was and be happy in its new home. Time will tell. Also had big plans to dig in some round pavers in the front yard but kept hitting tree root from the giant ash. Then I was relieved I hadn't pursued it once the power company came to mark the lines. I had some sixth sense and had arranged them pretty much on top of the electic line. Whew. I think they will work much better on the side of the house as an actual footpath through the ex-sucker tree lane. I'm awake, warmed up, and ready for this growing season to get well started. Gentlemen! Start your shovels!