Essential Garden Clean-Up

The grounds crew was outside most of the day after it warmed up a bit. We're still collecting the remnants of our Winter Wonderland Walk and tidying up around all garden areas. The best distraction from the horrible deer damage and the rising pond level are the earliest blooms; like these crocuses seen today in the color rooms garden. The rabbits enjoy crocus "snacks" so these might look a bit different tomorrow! Regardless, well appreciated and enjoyed! We've been cutting down perennial foliage and grasses from last year. We're also doing a light raking in areas that still have leaf debris from last fall. All garden areas are in need of some attention to get them ready for the influx of spring-starved gardeners (which is already arriving). It wont be too long and we'll have most of our time taken up with planting, weeding and watering. April is a nice segway to the color of May. I always have a digital camera with me (Olympus Stylus 710) and find it handy to shoot all sorts of things. I probably take 4,000 pictures each year to record plants, people, collections, special events, etc. The true struggle is to quickly download and label these photos before I forget what they are. If there is a label with the plant, I'll take a picture of that as well. I then sort all my photos based on different criteria. I was happy to make the transition from 35mm to digital but I do miss some of the benefits of the "old fashioned" photography. However, creating PowerPoint presentations is quite easy and it's nice to have all the photos labeled and stored for consideration and future use. One of the best shots of the garden is seen here. If you line up a shot thru the gazebo, it will frame the arched bridge across the pond. What a beautiful view any time of year. This shot was taken today.