Is it Spring yet?

The January thaw came a little early this year, and I wasn't ready. Not that I couldn't find my gloves and wheelbarrow, but I wasn't ready emotionally. I haven't been cooped up in the boring house nearly long enough yet, haven't gotten so stir crazy that I felt a driving need to get up to my knees in compost. In fact, the compost pile hasn't even frozen yet, and I've been out there turning it just about every week.

It was warm enough to spend some time surveying the shrubs, finding crossed branches, water sprouts to be cut back, and sections that are overhanging some paths too much. These can cut back any time now that the plants are dormant, but I like to wait until March. There should be some nice days that month, among the cold, windy, dreadful ones, and by then I'll be desperate for some kind of garden work. Saving this chore for later will also help keep me out of trouble with my favorite on-line plant suppliers.

Just today I found a link to a great source of shade plants - it's the Naylor Creek nursery. Not a fancy site, and the catalog is in PDF, but they have 19 different Rodgersias. I'm hooked.