The first project was pulling weeds. The ground was still wet from the rain and those little nasties were small enough that their roots hadn't yet grown half way to China. That job was a piece of cake. Next I confiscated my husband's brand new pruners and set to work cutting away all that brown soggy stuff left over from last year's growth. And, lo and behold, brand new growth was popping through the ground.
Spring truly is just around the corner.
Now, here's the decision of a lazy gardener. Some of the plants will no longer remain in the bed. They're those big beautiful ones with masses of blossoms on each stem. As new blossoms appear at the top of each stem, the previous blossoms at the bottom of the stem are spent and becoming brown and crunchy. I can't begin to tell you how many hours I spent on my knees or reaching around the plant to prune off every itty bitty dead blossom at the bottom of the stem.