Blog #600: Spring clean-up

 For this, my 600th blog, the title is "Spring Clean-up." This morning I spent around 90 minutes cleaning up the perennial gardens, raking them of the debris that accumulated during the winter and cutting back and dead-heading the perennials there.

 The willows by the bus stop look healthy but I will have to wait for the first flush of leaves to bud out before I can cut them to ground level and "strip the willow." It is at that time that I can readily remove the bark and produce "white willow."

 The front yard is just beginning to emerge from its dormancy over winter.

 In a few weeks the daffodils will be showing of their glorious yellow.

 Already a few colts foots (colts feet) are showing through, one of the earlier flowers to bloom in the spring.

 The bloomming heather keeps blooming too.

And, as I cut back the dead stalks and seed heads of the sedum, the new growth is readily visible.

For my 600th blog, the signs of spring abound even though the dreaded "eff" and "ess" words are being heard in the forecasts for later in the week: flurries and wet snow are promised!