In a Vase on Monday - Cleaning Up and Digging Out

The snow continues to melt and there are even some patches of earth visible in my garden now.  Snowdrops didn't seem fazed at all by the snow and hellebores are blooming on stems that are not as upright as usual but are still lovely.  Some of the more tender plants that a lazy gardener didn't throw in the greenhouse are gone but that just leaves more room for the many plants in the collection.   The last few days have found us busy beginning to clean up the fallen trees, snapped bamboo, etc.  Six truck loads and eight yard waste dumpsters full of debris have been hauled away and there are several more truckloads worth of cuttings waiting behind the greenhouse and strewn on the paths of the garden.  Thank goodness I have tomorrow off of work.  A full day of clean up should have the garden paths passable again. 

A few limbs of Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku' (Coral Bark Maple) fell and were the inspiration for today's arrangement.  Joining a few tips of one of the limbs are a few golden bamboo branches stripped of their leaves.  About half of the golden bamboo grove in the parking strip snapped in half.  The blue evergreen bit are a few branches of Cupressus arizonica var. glabra ‘Blue Ice’ that needed trimming away from the street. 


During the snow, birds were hunkered down somewhere as their food sources were covered.  The garden was strangely devoid of most bird song except the hummingbirds who were happy to find that the feeders were kept from freezing.  Warmer weather and available water has caused the garden to once again be filled with the songs of our avian friends.  What could be better to warm one from the inside after a few hours of working in the snow?  Soup of course.  What better vessel for today's arrangement of salvaged sticks than an old soup tureen?




In a Vase on Monday is hosted by Cathy, Rambling in the Garden, who is experiencing "Glorious February Days."   Click here to see more Monday offerings.