Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Being from the O'Dwyer clan, I grew up with the corned beef and cabbage thing but after going vegan, we do potatoes, veggie Irish hash (special recipe) and green beer tonight. Although I couldn't supply a true four-leaf clover, I've included water shamrock (Marsilea quadrifolia) seen above in our fern & moss garden a couple years ago. This plant is actually a fern! Considering that this native European plant was introduced in New England in 1862 and has shown aggressive tendencies (banned in Connecticut), I'm glad to say that it already died here as it is marginally hardy. This plant will thrive in damp environments, shallow water and is used in aquariums too. It did create quite a thicket for awhile here though but is an appropriate image for today! Nice image below from today of the vernal witchhazel (Hamamelis vernalis 'Sandra') starting to unfurl its confetti-like, fragrant blossoms. This large, understory shrub/small tree is native to MO, AK, LA, OK and parts of TX. Only hardy to zone 5, this plant has done well for us and will have variable fall color (mostly yellow). This is our first woody to bloom although the Corneliancherry dogwoods (Cornus mas) aren't too far away from blooming... Another awesome day today with plenty of help. Bill worked all day cutting down grasses and hauling back debris. Dr. Gredler kept stride with many trips to the dump and is slowly (but surely) getting thru our winter debris pile. Little Jerry came in to do some pruning and clean-up and Kay came in to work her weeding "kung fu" on what I think is cress. Some of these earliest weeds bloom and drop seed before we get them in mid-April. Kay's efforts today (and tomorrow) will be extremely beneficial (and quite noticeable). Jumbo Jim brought three RECAPPERS and they did a great job cleaning up debris and broken branches in the Japanese garden. It's amazing how many loads of debris they hauled out of there. We also saw Julie, Vern, Dave and Dick H. (working on dump truck) over here today as well. The masons finished retucking our koi pond but I think we'll be doing some "interior work" on this water feature so potential leakage doesn't ruin their efforts. The newest member of our fleet can be seen below and it has already been put in to service. This 4x4 John Deere Gator is top notch and solid. We anticipate many long years of service and got a great deal from our local dealer (although I never hope we have to say, "Boy, I'm glad this thing had roll bars!"). It is important to note that our small budget can't accomodate purchases like this but we were fortunate to have some kind benefactors that helped us out (with a new mower too, seen in a previous posting). Note below the Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) starting to bloom next to that warm rock. Unfortunately, it looks like 2-5" of snow this weekend to get everyone back to reality. My reality tonight includes getting in to this "Irish" cookie (bottom photo) that my daughter picked out. Just like what they used to eat "on the old sod".