Daffodils.

For the past week the weather has been good for gardening.  Unfortunately, I’ve spent most of those days indoors, grumbling at my ill fortune to have crossed paths with the common cold.  Within 48 hours of attending and mingling at a historical society program at our local library, I could feel stuffiness, achy muscles, and a not-at-all-normal tiredness settling in.  Oh, and let’s not forget the coughing.  I hate being sick.  I really, really hate being sick in the spring.

This afternoon, I ventured outdoors and took a walk around the yard to see how much progress the weeds have made in my absence.  The big, bad bully again this year is mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), an aggressive perennial weed that is among the first to make its appearance.  A few years ago, it appeared in the front garden and has overtaken much of that space.  Fortunately, it’s a small area with hardscape on three sides so spreading by underground rhizomes is limited. 

And more daffodils.

I was tempted to bend over and start pulling, but I was saved by a coughing fit.  I’ll give myself another day, then get out my saddle hoe and start beheading the still-little invaders.  I’m hoping that by continually causing the plants to feed new growth without taking in new nourishment from above-ground growth will eventually deplete the rhizomes nutritional stockpile.  I can hope. 

I don’t have many other options since there are other plants in that bed I want to keep, making solarization or smothering the mugwort impractical.  The presence of those plants also makes the use of an herbicide—the recommended method to remove mugwort—impossible. 

Yes, more daffodils.

So I put off for another day dealing with weeds and just took a look at what’s new.  So many plants are waking up.  Just the other day, the honeyberry (Lonicera caerulea) looked dormant but today its leaves are unfurling.  Soon it will be covered with flowers and the pollinators will be feasting.

But it’s the spring flowers that stole the show.  I’ve planted a lot of daffodils over the years and they are putting on quite the show.  Welcome, spring.  I’ll be back with you in a bit. 

And, of course, some daffodils to bring indoors.

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