Compared to Last Year

Mid 40s today but very windy.  It does feel a little warmer than yesterday's frigid winter feel, but it's still too unpleasant and cold and windy out there.

In shady areas the ground is frozen.

One of the benefits of keeping this online journal for a year now is that I can easily go back and compare dates a year apart.  Last March 28 I was complaining about the unseasonable cold!

My pictures from March 31 - April 1 last year show forsythia in bloom, and the Okame cherry blooming.  Nothing even remotely ready to bloom this year!

I found a great article on Nancy Ondra's blog about cut-back shrubs and coppicing, which I saved on the Pruning page above.

I think I will let the 'Nishiki' dappled willows go this year, and cut them back completely next year, alternating years.

Same with the redtwig dogwoods, I'll wait to cut them back every other year.  The redtwigs had great stem color this winter.

The only thing in bloom is the pink heath 'Ghost Hills".  The one smaller plant looks good, but the fuller, bushier one has a lot of dead branches in front.  I don't know if it was voles or too much winter snow or wind... not sure why all the dead twigginess.  They'll both get a severe cut back as soon as the blooming is over.

One looks good . . .

the other doesn't.