Spring dreaming of the garden to be

Welcome March. If the ground is dry enough you have probably gone around to check on emerging spring bulbs. Daffodil leaves are up, and crocus is also starting. If you have wet leaves covering areas where you know early bulbs should be peeking through, rake them away. I am leaving some wet leaf mats to continue insulating later flowering plants, but will be raking them sometime this month. With March we will probably get some more winter, and it was great that we had the heavy snowfall to insulate plants before the single digit and minus numbers. These early emerging plants can take the cold so don't worry if we get some cold nights. Trees and shrubs are still dormant but will be breaking dormancy soon so if there's any pruning you need to do (fruit trees), now is the time. Do not prune spring flowering shrubs like lilac, forsythia and flowering quince until after flowering has ended. With spring approaching we look forward to the spring flowering bulbs and perennials that grace our yards, all those daffodils, tulips, crocus, bleeding heart, snowdrops, etc. There are many spring flowering natives that will be appearing in the woody areas before the trees leaf out and cast shade. When the trees in the forest I planted grew enough to close the canopy, to have upper branches close enough to shade the ground, I started planting native flowers. We are all familiar with the different trilliums which may be large and showy, but a carpet of trout lily with yellow flowers is beautiful. Spring beauty, aptly named, is a delicate white flower with red veins, mayapple is a large plant with a small flower hidden by the leaves. Jack in the pulpit delights twice, in spring with the distinctive flower, and in fall with a stalk of red berries. I am trying to get bloodroot and wild ginger to grow also. On sunny days it's nice to get out, even to just pick up twigs and small branches that have come down over the winter. Some of the lawns around my neighborhood have small piles of rubble dumped there by passing snow plows, the stones will be dangerous shrapnel when hit by lawn mower blades and should be raked up. If you feel industrious, there are the leaves that blew in after you raked last fall that need to be removed. Save some of the leaf packs for use as mulch next summer, those tightly packed leaves allow no weeds to grow through them. There are a few things to be done in the garden, the celery and parsley plants have finally collapsed and need to be dug out. The garlic looks good and the protective grates used to discourage curious squirrels can probably be removed. Herbs like thyme and lavender that were not sufficiently pruned last fall will need to be cut down to encourage growth when temperatures warm up. Spring dreaming of the garden to be.