Soooo sick of winter. Here also the snowdrops are the most visible sign of spring in the brown of winter. The winter aconites are coming too, a few Blue Pearl crocuses are visible, and the cyclamen coum is in its full glory. But I want to sit outside and enjoy it all close up, smell spring in the air, close my eyes against the sun and soak it all up.

Woody, those comparison pictures show exactly what I love about gardening with lots of perennials, bulbs and shrubs: you would not recognize the place from one month to the next!

Woody, I always love your garden photos! So beautiful. Thanks for sharing!!

Here in Central MA my yard is still 50% covered with a foot of snow, bare mud in the other half. BUT this week will have temps in the 40s and 50s, so much melting ought to take place, yippee! Enough already with all those back-to-back Nor'easters!!!!

Always enjoy seeing the changes in your garden as the seasons progress, woody.

Most of our snow has melted and I was surprised to see the brown grass as with abundant fall rains the grass was still green when covered with snow. Even though I knew brown was normal, it felt wrong.

Am eagerly anticipating finding what spring bloomers are in the garden plots around here.

We didn't get much snow here this year - most of those big storms missed us. So it looks like we might be in for a very dry spring as there is no snow melt to add moisture. We did have a little over an inch of rain at the end of February - and then nothing until yesterday when we got 5mm. (0.2") so I hope we get some more rain soon!

I suspect that a lot of you think the backyard has looked like it does in the pictures above for a long time - but that look is the end result of 18 years of incremental changes..... I came across some old pictures from 2000 and 2001 - the first two years in the garden here. This is the backyard at the beginning:

The 'wet corner' was a mass of pachysandra (that got dug out and given to a neighbour who wanted it....) We had brought some hostas from our previous house and plopped them down there until we decided what to do with the garden. I had also plopped in an oakleaf hydrangea in the spring. August 2000:

The following spring we started removing some lawn and laying out beds in this area:

You can see the dead apple tree that eventually fell and became a nurse-log for trilliums. The rustic (! and rotting....!) shed eventually got replaced with one DH could stand upright in! Each subsequent year, the beds here got extended towards the house. Once there were beds on this side of the yard, we added ones on the other side to balance them, and then continued up the alleys. The same process was happening in the front garden too. Year by year the garden got larger and more structured/defined.

Here's a look at the area under the pines on the other side of the shed back in 2000:

By the spring of 2005 you can sort of see where things were heading:

Waiting impatiently

===>>> you should know that impatiens are not recommended due to potential disease issues ... rotflmbo ...

ken

That is an impressive development, Woody. I love your garden in reality, and now it is great to see where it all came from. And you are not the only one who is done great garden upheavals... I am quite happy now to fine tune what is there, keep thugs in their places, and enjoy what I have.

Nice seeing the beginning and what it has become - fabulous. Your garden is both exuberant and restful, you have a lot going on but in a restrained colour palette and you certainly accomplished your vision. Ah woody, no major changes planned but I am sure it will keep evolving, your choice or not. Always so beautiful!

Very punny Ken.

To say I'm sick of winter doesn't begin to describe it this year. The snow is still close to a foot deep in places. Die Winter! Die!!

Same here spedigrees, still a foot or two. woody is only a few hundred miles south of me and it is like night & day. So depressing. We know spring will arrive sooner or later but I could really use sooner!

spedigrees - my sympathies to you on the snow situation :-). Snow is great for winter protection and as a source of moisture, but enough is enough by this time of year! My best wishes to you for warmer weather......!

Thanks for the nice comments on the garden. It was fun making it and fun looking back on the beginnings. I’m feeling a bit lost though without any major project in plan for this year. Lots of tweaking and maintenance issues need to be addressed though - but those are not as much fun :-)