It was so wonderful to see spring!! Each morning when I get up the first thing I do is go out onto the upper porch and look around at the yard to decided what I need to do that day.  This morning I was greeted by many, many beautiful spring bulbs in full bloom.  Yesterday there were only buds today they are smiling in all their glory. Then I remembered the first thing I had to do was get those pictures I promised you.  When Norman went for his walk I had to fix the Boston Butt roast I got yesterday.  I mixed up the rub and put it on all 8 slices, then took three and tied them into a roast and bagged it for freezing, then did the same for the next three.  Then I cut one in half and tied that up into a small one for us and put the rub on the last one, put it on a bed of beet greens and added half a dozen banana peppers and put it into the oven for dinner today.  I mixed up the basting sauce and by then Norman was home and we had breakfast.  Right after breakfast Norman went down to the garden to get everything we needed to plant the potatoes and finish getting the rows ready to plant and I went out and got the pictures. This is Lukes lettuce bed at the end of the flower box near the steps.  He also put in some onions.  

This is the hosta bed.  As soon as we took the leaves off and screeched the soil a little everything began to grow.  You can see the crocus in the foreground and the daffodils in the back.  There are also iris leaves in the back but no buds there yet.  Iris bloom when the spring flowers are gone.  The lilies are back there also but they are only up about an inch and the hosta have not yet begun to poke through.  This garden has one thing or another blooming all spring and half way through the summer.  I have to weed this all the time otherwise the violets cover the garden and chock out everything else.  The lilac is well budded now also. 

This is the rock garden that is along the north side of the house.  The bleeding hearts are just poking their heads above ground and the vica major is budded but no blooms yet.  You can see the hellebore about half way up the garden.  The lilid of the valley are not up yet and the black eyed susans are just small leaves flat to the ground.  They came into bloom in the late summer and into the fall, then they take over the whole garden. 

These are the hellebores, some call them Lental Roses.  They love this spot, they never get any direct sun and it quite cool on this side of the house.  I have to keep cutting the vica major out so that it does not kill them, they are a hearty flower but can’t stand having the vines climb over them.  I brought these with me from GA and had to move them several times before finding the spot they wanted to live in. Most plants are very fussy about where they live and they sure let you know when you don’t find the right place.  There are also Coral Bells in here and they also love it.  Again I tried several other spots for them but they just died out until I tried in this garden and now I have to pull them out as the spread too much.  They are not in bloom yet but their leaves are pretty all year.  

This is the first woodland garden.  It get the most sun of any of the woodland gardens but all through out the Hickory Grove are small gardens like this and they give pretty color for the walk through the grove.  I still have not gotten out to pull out the leaves so most of the spring bulbs are not in bloom yet but they are budded.  Later in the spring the iris bloom out here also.  The vica major is just getting started out here but one day the ground will be covered with that.  

You can see some of the small beds here in the grove but you can also see some of the piles we have to move down to the burn barrels.  These get very little sun so are later to bloom than the one up near the barn.  

This is a shot of the house and grape vines from the grove.  The rock garden is the full length of the house but right now it is hard to see from a distance as all the flowers are low to the ground.  When the black eyed Susans are in bloom you can see it from any angle.  There is two other gardens with spring bulbs but I didn’t get those pictures because I have not yet cleaned up the area around them.  One is what we call the mountain.  When they built this house the burnt all the trees and roots they had to remove to put the house in and all the scrap material from the building.  They put this fire at the back corner of the building lot and burned all that they could.  There was no place to push the things that would not burn so we told them to leave it and we would take care of it.  We pull out things that would never burn such as paint cans, tiles and strapping and took those to the land fill to be trucked away,  Paint cans must be burned before they would take them anyways so that saved us trouble.  There were a couple big roots and some large stumps that would not completely burn so we brought top soil from down below up and covered them with the soil.  It took many, many tractor carts full of soil but we make it and then with some of the horse manure we got from Mr Rigsby we had a nice place to plant flowers.  We had a fountain for a while there but that did not work out well so we removed it.  Now the vica major and  has taken over the sedum as the ground cover and the daffodils don’t mind it so they come up  and multiply every year.  This year the butterfly bush didn’t make it through the winter or at least I don’t think so but the red bud is still there.  When I get it cleaned up I’ll get a picture of the mountain for you.  Also there is a flower garden in front of the studio with iris, and peonies and a lilac and snow ball bush so when I get that cleaned up and some of the flowers start there I’ll get a picture for you.  This afternoon I am cheating and talking to you instead of working.  Norman is weeding the kitchen garden and if it does not rain tomorrow he may be able to till that so we can plant the beets, spinach, lettuce and Swiss chard and onions.  That garden does not drain as well as the lower garden so it will depend on the moisture if he can till.  Guess that catches you up on all our work.  Have a great day.