Delights, Dilemmas and Dirt: Before/After

Forgive the amateur shots, and indulge me in a little Before and After. The Before pics are mostly from February of this year. The Afters were taken in April. Spring gardening is such a thrill--getting to see things come back to life, leaf out and bloom.

We are forecasted to get mid-30's temps tonight. I wrapped the tomatoes. Praying everything else will make it.

Here's the garden box before:

And after...

The sheet mulch bed after pruning, but before mulching and new planting. The Knockout Roses are visible, though dull, but the Blanc Du Bois Grape is almost invisible between them.

But look at the grape now. It's exploding with new leaves and tendrils, and even the tiniest stems of grapes. Probably nothing we'll be able to eat this year, but it's fun to see. Maybe we'll make some dolmas.

The Knockouts are perking up nicely, getting ready to explode with blooms.

Here's the side view, showing the return of the Asparagus Fern, Pavonia (Rock Rose), and Lantana, joined by other recent additions.

Same bed, the Pavonia/Rock Rose in the bottom left corner of this pic was reduced to bare sticks. Ditto for the Texas Lantana bottom right. The Pavonia showed early signs of returning, but the Lantana was bare until late March.

Pavonia returning.

Dead-looking Lantana.

Lantana with enough new growth to almost completely obscure the bare sticks that preceded it.

The Purple Pocket Garden before... I was excited to see some new growth on the Coral Bells (Huechera), and the remaining purple elements had all died to the ground. I didn't know when or if they would return, or what I would do with the gaps left behind.

The Purple Pocket Garden returns... the Coral Bells are getting tall, thick and lush, the Oxalis and Purple Hearts have heartily returned, and I've added annual 'Kauai Deep Blue' Torenia. I saw the first sprout of wild morning glory returning, too.