Preparing the Yard for Spring

Last weekend I helped my yard wake up from its long winter’s nap. I swept thick layers of leaves off the paths, did hours of pruning, pulled up loads of winter weeds, and planted pink and white dianthus around my three stone birdbaths near the house. On both Saturday and Sunday, I was outside from dawn till dusk, gardening with all my might and delighting in the signs of spring.

In the Pond Garden, I counted fourteen trilliums (Trillium underwoodii), which was thrilling because I’ve only ever planted eight, so this number means they’re spreading! (Ants disperse the seeds.) Trilliums are real charmers, the cutest harbingers of spring. They’re native and ephemeral, featuring three silver-streaked, mottled leaves borne in a whorl atop a single stem and crowned by a maroon flower. Trilliums are sometimes called “toadshade,” which is fitting, I think, since they resemble little parasols.

Finding fourteen trilliums by the pond was like finding a pot of gold, and I felt even luckier when, about an hour later, on Saturday morning, I discovered two native bloodroots in bloom under the live oak tree in the front yard. I kneeled in the brown oak leaves to admire them, their flowers quite large and showy for such petite plants, the many petals clear white and the stamens sunny yellow. I felt so much admiration for the little bloodroots. They seemed heroic to me, growing as they were in a random spot crowded with small-leaf spiderwort, a terrible invasive. I pulled out the spiderwort and made a mental note to protect the place.

I was only partly joking when I said to Rob as he happened by, “This is sacred ground, the home of the bloodroots! Don’t run the weed eater over here.”

I pruned and weeded (by hand) for most of the day on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, I filled all the birdbaths with clean water, planted sixty dianthus, added fresh ferns to the front-porch urns, and fertilized my youngest and most fragile camellias with organic Holly-tone. Though I worked from sunup to sundown on both days, I never felt tired. I was too excited to be tired. Spring was on its way!