Early Spring, Conquering Weeds

Forsythia and early spring daffodils are beginning to bloom in the front garden.Signs of spring are everywhere in the garden: spots of chartreuse green emerging along branches; emerald shoots pushing out of the earth; flower buds swelling till their lustrous, candy colored contents are released; birds singing and performing courtship dances in the air; children playing outside, their shouts and laughter carrying through the woods from an adjacent neighborhood. Rosa rugosa 'Alba', emerging from dormancy

Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles)

Daphne odora 'Marginata' (Variegated winter daphne)

Daffodil

Forsythia

Summer snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum). Despite the name, these bloom in early spring for me.

And weeds, lots and lots of weeds.

It was a particularly pleasant day, and I spent a good portion of it on my knees in the garden, or else sitting on my rump, happily pulling weeds. After several days of rain earlier in the week, the ground was soft and many of the weeds came out easily. 

There are three main ways I get rid of weeds:

Simply chopping the tops off at ground level is a temporary esthetic fix, but pulling them out by the roots is far more effective. I love my hoematic, a versatile tool that is indispensable for getting them out by the roots.My well used hoematic

Smothering weeds with a good layer of mulch is a quick way to beautify the garden. For areas with heavy weed cover I use newspaper, brown paper sacks, and even cardboard layered over the ground, then topped with an attractive mulch, such as  pine straw or pine nuggets.

I limit the use of herbicide, but I do use it for truly obnoxious weeds like poison oak.

I don't mind weeding. I let my thoughts drift as I mechanically attack the chore. I think about God, about relationships, about garden design. I ponder politics and compose blog posts. I wonder at the force that causes these unwanted plants to erupt by the thousands. They appeared almost overnight, and already many of them, even the babies, are producing flowers, determined to churn out another generation before I hack them to death.

Weeds grow year round in my climate. Even in winter, on milder days, it is a good idea to grab a few in passing. If I pull ten weeds, I am preventing hundreds of wanton offspring. On days dedicated to weeding, I am euphoric over the unnumbered multitudes that have been thwarted. I am not discouraged that I have removed a mere bucket from an ocean of weeds. I focus on what I have done, rather than on what I can never do.

I will not conquer all weeds. That's OK. I enjoy the battle, for it gets me into the garden, where I experience the earth and watch the good guys grow.Grape hyacinth

Hellebores

A Special Wildflower

Last year I purchased a liver leaf plant, Hepatica nobilis, for my woodland garden. An evergreen herb, it was used to treat liver ailments in medieval times, though it's no longer used for that purpose. I didn't know much about it, but I liked the fuzzy mottled leaves. The tag said it was a native woodland plant. It was small, about three inches across, and I almost forgot about it as the months passed. It was covered by leaf litter in the fall, then buried a couple of times by light snow falls this winter. 

About a week ago I investigated the spot where I had planted it. I lifted off a layer of wet leaves, and to my delight, the liver leaf was flourishing, more than doubled in size. The leathery leaves had acquired a pleasing purplish undertone. I was happy with my liver leaf and went searching local nurseries for some more. It is not so common. I found only a single plant, which I put near the original one. I hope more will be available when plant retailers get in their spring stock.

A few days ago I had an even better surprise. It blooms! And it is a beauty:

Although the small flowers look delicate, it is a tough plant. One of the first to bloom in spring, hepatica flowers can persist up to two months, and they come in shades from pure white to soft pinks to electric blue. Native to the eastern half of the United States, as well as parts of Europe, liver leaf will grow in acid to neutral, humus rich soil. It likes partial shade to shade. The leaves are up to two inches across and shaped with three lobes like a liver (thus its common name). There are a couple of varieties, one with rounded lobes and another with more pointed leaves. The old foliage dies back as fresh new leaves come in after blooming. It's interesting that liver leaf seeds attract ants, which carry them off to new locations, thus helping with propagation.

This is a beautiful plant. Mine is beside a woodland path, so I can enjoy it. A clump of them would look wonderful tucked at the base of a tree or perhaps peeking around a rock. It just needs a press agent to tout its attributes to the world — and I would vote for a new common name!