Welcome Back to the Garden, 2020 Edition

Well, here we are again.  Another spring, another shot at my gardening blog.  I predict that I will do a few posts in April and May, and then peter our once again as I run out of new things to say.  But in the meantime, let's talk about plants!

It was a mild winter and it's been a rainy April, and my garden is really, really happy.  I thought I'd walk you through the garden, section by section, as I did last year, so you can see what's coming up.

Here's Pot 1:

 That's the Japanese Pieris.  All the red leaves are new growth.  As you can see, it's practically on fire with new growth.  Why?  I'm guessing it's partly because of the warm winter, and partly because I moved most of the astilbes out of this pot.  Their enthusiastic growth was probably inhibiting the Pieris.

Pot 1A has three hostas that are off to a late start.

I'll admit they don't look like much yet, but I'll try to give you a better photo later in the season.

Pot 2: the Blue Mouse Ears hostas.

They've been in my garden since 2015 and always do well.  Again, I'll do a photo later in the season so you can see them in their full growth.  There was supposed to be a Cherry Berry hosta in here as well, but it was looking pretty weak last summer and has not come back this year.  I may move another Blue Mouse Ears into this pot.

Pot 3:

That's the Laceleaf Japanese Maple Orangeola, which starts the spring with those reddish-orange edges to the leaves.  It's very leafy indeed this year!  I'm guessing it will never be tall, but I love its fluffiness.

Another shot of Pot 3, which shows the other plants that are in there with Orangeola: the Bergenia Pink Dragonfly on the right, the Cherry Berry Hosta in the center, and some green fluffy thing on the left.  I'll need to go outside to identify that (as you can see, there's a tag from the nursery stuck in the pot), but it's dark and I'm in my pajamas, so let's let it be a mystery for now.

Pot 3A:

That's the Garden Glory Fullmoon Maple and a hosta that I purchased as a bare root from Walmart in 2018.  I don't know its name, but it's definitely thriving!  On the left, you can see a tiny shoot - that's another hosta, the Lakeside Paisley Print, which is taking its time about coming up.


Pot 4:

Two heucheras: Happy Hour Lime and Obsidian, both purchased in 2018.  Both survived the winter, which is good.  Also, another Blue Mouse Ears hosta, which you can see sneaking up down at the bottom of the photo.

More tomorrow, or maybe the next day!