Earliest Harbinger of Spring

[SteveinMN]

Our day lilies are starting to poke their leaves through the remains of last year's crop (we got most of our snow this winter in October, so some garden beds are messed up). Looks like my landscaping work will be starting shortly (and a little early this year).

[iris lilies]

We’ve talked about this concept on another thread but I can’t find it now.


This morning I attended a zoom garden club meeting where I was a presenter about an upcoming virtual flower show. One of the speakers who was there as a horticulture expert reminded everyone to keep the old brown sticks of their herbaceous plants sticking up. We should be picking off only the Flower heads so that the plant doesn’t go to seed. Keep all those brown sticks and brown leaves on throughout the winter and even through spring. Don’t cut them until June!


Then she said something about trimming them down if you have to, but if you trim them below a certain point then all your bees will be male and not female. So I’ll just put that bee thing right there for you all to ponder.

but here’s why I’m writing this post: one garden club lady asked incredulously “you mean I can’t cut the brown stuff down? You mean I have to leave that stuff up in my front yard where my flower garden is? Do you want me to keep all of that old dead plant material showing all the way through June? “

I laughed silently to myself because I don’t do this. I have a flower garden because it’s pretty. That means I yank out brown leaves and dead stalks. I wanted to privately email her to tell her she didn’t have to do any of that! she could clean up her flower garden to enjoy it because hey that’s why we have flower gardens. They are pretty.

[KayLR]

Currently in bloom: daffodils, camelia, candytuft, hyacinths, and forsythia. The latter always means spring to me.

[Yppej]

Some of the lakes I passed on my way home today did not have any ice on them for the first time this year.

[Rogar]

but here’s why I’m writing this post: one garden club lady asked incredulously “you mean I can’t cut the brown stuff down? You mean I have to leave that stuff up in my front yard where my flower garden is? Do you want me to keep all of that old dead plant material showing all the way through June? “

I laughed silently to myself because I don’t do this. I have a flower garden because it’s pretty. That means I yank out brown leaves and dead stalks. I wanted to privately email her to tell her she didn’t have to do any of that! she could clean up her flower garden to enjoy it because hey that’s why we have flower gardens. They are pretty.

What the internet gardeners tell me about my xeriscape perennials is that you can cut back spring and early flowering perennials in the fall, but it is best to wait for springtime just when some green is showing to cut back late summer and fall bloomers. I like to leave a layer organic mulch material like the fall leaves around the plants to protect against cold freezes. But the garden is to enjoy and I've not noticed any big differences when I've not followed the advice. June is awfully late for anything I know about cleaning out all the brown, but I'm hardly an expert and don't have a show garden.

There's nothing blooming here. Just recently the ground became workable and I'm waiting for the snows to clear off to divide and relocate some of the larger plants.