Phlox, Geranium, Alcea, Echinacea, Clematis, Rudbeckia, Lavandula, Hydrangea, Azalea, Paeonia…

It’s time to turn my attention to the yard and garden. There is much to do.

We’ve noticed, over the years, that there is a rhythm to yard and garden work in this town. Starting about now, until mid-June, people work their tushies off on their yards and gardens. They prune, mulch, plant, fertilize, water, weed, and generally get things looking their best. They get everything set so that between mid-June and mid-September, they have to do very little – just some watering, mowing and minor weeding. Then back to more yard work in late-September into October to prepare everything for winter.

This is not because they are trying to avoid yard work during the hottest months, although that is an added benefit. It’s because mid-June to mid-September is beach season and no one wants to be mulching and weeding when they could be out at the second crossing playing in the surf. Us included.

It took us a couple of years to figure this out. Our first summer here, we were out in the yard on the first weekends in July, working away, yet we seemed to be the only ones doing so. As our second summer approached, I took notice of the intense activity in late April and the so-called light bulb went off in my head.

So it’s time to get busy. Normally I make a list at the end of the fall about what plants I think I’ll need to replace and what might need to be added. Then I choose a nice cold winter day in January to place my spring order at various online nurseries. For whatever reason, I did not do that this last fall and winter. If I did, the plants would be here by now.

Yesterday was such a lovely day that I went out to just be in the sun and take stock of what’s there and what we need.

Crocus and daffodils are up, and hyacinth and tulips are on their way. Some of the daylilies are starting to shoot some green.

In back, there are signs of some peonies in the bed under the screened porch. Last year the peonies were attacked by powdery mildew. We were careful to dispose of all the stems and leaves as they died back – but I still feel relief to see the growth.

In the larger bed in back, I need to cut back some vinca. The geraniums there are fine, as are the grape muscari and taller phlox. It’s the laurel and the hellebores that I can’t seem to get established in that bed. I don’t know why. The hollyhock back there is highly variable. I so enjoy them when they do come in that I refuse to give up on them. I could use some anemones back there, I think.

In front of the fence are three climbing hydrangeas. They have taken a while to establish, but should be great for bloom this year. Behind the back fence are several large white mophead hydrangeas and some purple smoke bush. The purple smoke bush hasn’t bloomed well yet, but I am hopeful that this is the year.

Along the back walk, we have to add the annual herbs (basil, rosemary) to the herb garden of course - the mint, oregano, and sage are strong. The creeping thyme is fine, too. Perhaps I should put in some common thyme. The lavender that borders the herbs looks pretty good so far. They were really scraggly last spring, but seem to be finally full and lush. Along the steps, some vinca has died and I need to pull it out. I’ll add more phlox there. I love the carpet of flowers that phlox creates in mid-spring.

Along the driveway, there are day lilies and lavender and phlox that are still establishing, so I’ll leave that area alone, for the most part. I hope to get some morning glory going along the fence there this summer. The roses we tried putting in there a few years ago have never done well. Behind the fence are some red twig dogwood that looks really lovely against the snow in the winter. They need to be pruned hard. I’m always nervous to do that.

At the very end of this area is a stunning tree azalea. I’ve been working on pruning it for several years and it’s taking on a lovely shape. It is absolutely the focus of our little lane when it blooms in May.

The clematis at the head of the driveway is still an unknown. I see some new growth, but I don’t know how well it will do. There are four individual clematis vines on two trellises. The numerous lilies that are in front of the clematis should be fine if we can get good control of the blasted lily beetles. We’ve been battling them for a couple of summers now.

Along the steps to the front of the house is our most established phlox. They are not looking very green yet this year, and I wonder if I will need to replace a few of them. This is the area where I play with cutting flowers – daisies and coneflower and black-eyed susans. The coneflowers are the strongest the last couple of years.

There’s also the first of the hydrangeas here. It’s a lace cap variety that was mislabeled at the garden store. Although overall I prefer mopheads, I do like this one.

Along the front of the house, I have, let’s see…one, two, three….nine hydrangeas. Mixed in among the hydrangeas are an azalea (less than healthy, unfortunately), an andromeda (quite healthy, especially once we removed the overgrown rhododendrons that obscured the front of the house when we purchased it), a lilac (doing mostly okay), anemones, juniper, and, along the front of the beds the whole way, geraniums.

The hydrangeas look good for this year – lots of buds. Hydrangeas are rather ubiquitous around here, but they are so pretty and do so well in our mostly coastal climate and very acid soil. (As a side note, a neighbor who will spend just their second summer in their house, cut back all their hydrangeas to six inches. I haven’t had the heart to tell them they will have no flowers this year as the hydrangeas they have bloom on old wood.)

Everything else in those beds is pretty much fine, except for the geraniums. I did not keep careful records about the varieties of geraniums I’ve tried. There’s a lovely low growing geranium along the front of the beds to the left of the front door. I thought I was putting in the same one to the right of the front door later that same season. I was wrong. The geraniums there are tall and leggy and less than attractive.

Along the side of the yard are some viburnum I moved last fall. They required too much pruning to be at the front of the house. I do hope they survive – their blooms in May are so lovely. At some point we'll put in more laurel, maybe some Japanese flowering dogwood to fill in and screen between the neighbors on that side (he's a town building inspector and a tad nosy) and ourselves.

The rest of the yard – well, I’m not responsible for the fruit trees, blueberry bushes, currant bushes and such. Those are my husband’s project. But I am happy to reap the benefits. I’m not responsible for the lawn, either. It needs some work. Okay, a lot of work. We both know that. I just try not to look at it right now. He's put there working on it.

So, really, I’m not in such bad shape for plant ordering. I need mostly some phlox and anemone and geranium (and hopefully that very low geranium). It may take some work to figure that out. I also clearly need to mulch (and will require a large delivery) and weed out some errant grass. Perhaps I'll finally get rid of the last of the hosta along the road. I've never been a big hosta fan.

It will take a few weeks, but I should be able to hit the beach in late June without worry.