Spring is Sprung

When it comes to gardening in Central Jersey, conventional wisdom states that there are certain plants that, given half a chance, will take over your yard, your neighbors' yards, and any nearby land.

Some of them can sometimes be controlled a little with constant pruning and applications of agent-orange-like chemicals.

Some of these plants are "invasives", plants not normally native to this area that, once introduced, may overwhelm many of the native plants. There are also native plants that are practically immortal; they can be found inexpensively in all the local nurseries or divided off from friends' plants.

Local gardeners know these plants include English ivy, forsythia, azaleas, rhododendrons, dogwoods, oaks, maples, apples, bamboo, and multiflora rose. They are guaranteed successes, no matter how brown the gardener's thumb. Sometimes they are successful even when you don't want them to be.

And then there are the common trees that always just seem to be there, populating the local woods - oaks and maples, for example.

In the decades that I have been working in my current yard I have managed to kill English ivy, forsythia, azaleas, rhododendrons, dogwoods, oaks, maples, apples, bamboo, and multiflora rose. And some really big oaks and maples.

Years ago one of my aunts kindly divided her irises when they were taking over her flowerbeds and gave me several bags full. I guess you could argue that I didn't kill them because they never even made it above ground.

But, it's April. I have just transplanted four forsythia plants from a friend's yard. Again. Hope springs eternal...
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Notice the small flower arrangement at the start of this post. The daffodils are from my yard, but I had to get the forsythia from a friend.

It just struck me that I could have put some dandelions in my arrangement.