Deadlines - Part 4

It took us most of Saturday afternoon and into the early evening, but the gigantic mulch pile is finally gone.

There was a little delay late in the day when we re-evaluated the health of several shrubs.  When we created the plant list a few weeks ago, not everything had started to bud out yet. At the time it wasn't obvious that several of the Ninebarks in the front hadn't survived the winter. And over the past week it became obvious that one of the Taunton Yews was toast as well.

So I made another trip to Gertens to get the three replacements. Not surprisingly the place was a zoo at 3:30 on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. But I survived to tell the tale.

Today the plan is to get started on some of the annual beds. That's going to take longer than just a single day, though...

In the meantime here are some photos of what's blooming elsewhere in the yard.

The Apple trees are in fine form this year.

The new Magnolia that I planted last weekend will be magnificent in years to come. The blooms are already mostly spent and look a little tired, but this one remains largely intact. It's nearly as big as my hand!

And the new Hibiscus that anchors one of the annual beds had already recovered nicely from being transplanted and is obviously happy in its new home. Once the tulips are done blooming, this bed will be filled with annuals to surround the hibiscus.