A gentle look at what I’ve been noticing and doing in the garden this March.
1. I pruned the remaining perennials to make room for new growth.
You can’t tell where the anise hyssop ends and its shadow begins. I harvested the leaves for tea and some of the seedheads to use on cookies. But I left part of the plant to overwinter in the garden. At the end of March, I cut down the old stems to use in a dry flower arrangement when the new growth started popping up from the base.
2. I finished the world’s easiest floral print DIY.
Who likes an easy before and after? I bought this hand-painted canvas tote bag from an artist I’ve been following on Instagram. The canvas was so masterfully painted that I didn’t have the heart to use it as a bag.
I kept an eye out for nice secondhand frames and found a new painting (of a cow, of all things) for a dollar at a thrift store. I cut out the cow canvas (I didn’t save it. It stunk to high heavens when I unsealed it!), stretched the tote bag over the frame and secured it in place with some small nails. And now I have a new original botanical painting. Pure bliss!
3. I finally used the saffron I harvested last fall.
We just got around to making some paella with the saffron I harvested last fall from my saffron crocuses (Crocus sativus). The blooms are long gone, but the leaves are still going strong in the garden, collecting energy for their next blooming session in the fall. They look like delicate little grasses, but I’m hoping they’ll be gone by the time I’m ready to plant veggies in this spot in May.
One of the perils of gardening in a small (sub)urban backyard is that every single inch has to do triple duty.
4. I marveled at the magnetic magnolia dance.
The magnolia buds were already out in February, so in March they started to shed their creamy velvet attire and burst into glorious burgundy.
5. I made small spring posies to brighten up a dark living room.
I much prefer small posies to large bouquets. These hyacinths (‘Delft Blue’) and daffodils (‘Tete-a-tete’) come from my own garden, all of them in their second growing season.
I brought the hyacinths indoors to put them in jars about a week apart because I wanted to maximize the mesmerizing scent as much as possible. There’s such a sense of nostalgia attached to their fragrance that just triggers all sorts of memories in my brain, all of them as hazy as the scent itself.
6. I said goodbye to spring crocuses.
These are probably the last crocuses of the season. Crocuses have been keeping me company in the garden for about two months, cheerful and delicate placeholders while the other spring bulbs were mustering up the courage to poke their heads up from underground. It’s time for crocuses to pass the relay baton and rest until next spring.
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