From:

THE WASTELAND. TS ELIOT.

Part One: The Burial of the Dead.

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers....

I had to do it. Especially since my survivor lilac is pushing out so many new blooms. The word April makes me think of this amazing, crazy poem. Long poem for sure. This is just the first few lines of the piece which is 4 long sections. But a delight to read, especially out loud...

The Trees (Philip Larkin Poem)

The trees are coming into leaf

Like something almost being said;

The recent buds relax and spread,

Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again

And we grow old? No, they die too.

Their yearly trick of looking new

Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh

In fullgrown thickness every May.

Last year is dead, they seem to say,

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

The Report from the garden. Mine and others.
So, I got tired of writing about the cold. Dear Weather, Quit it!. Thanks...

Now, for the fun part. Spring! I think...
A Katsura in my back yard that I'm using for screening from a giant new house has just started to leaf out. As well, the Physocarpus (nine-bark) is in full leaf. The maples are doing it too. But the fuchsia is just now showing signs of re-emergence. Come on warm!

It's time to make those remove or save decisions with regard to the winter death. The green leafed Hebe's seem to have weathered things well. The Hebe "Red-Edge" also fared pretty well in most cases.

We have had to remove a number of Prostrate Rosemary, even the most established have died. What to do about replacements? Some clients who liked the Hebe "Amy" or "Co-ed" seem to want to try the same again, even after they are advised that those varieties may not make it next season. But others really want to replace with something that is more likely to make it. So much depends on a micro-climate. Comment back if you know of varieties that made it through un-phased.

More later...thanks for reading..