Gray and chilly. Temperatures in the 40s with winds gusting at 14 miles and more. There is still one pile of snow in The Sunken Garden.

Still, I got a lot done over the past week.  First I found out that the old daffodils growing here when we bought our house in 1979 are Van Sion, a heritage variety.  I have Kathy Purdy of Cold Climate Gardening to thank for the ID. Van Sion is a beautiful frilly double daffodil dating back to 1620. It is available at Old House Gardens where the description “explodes into a froth of green and gold” includes the information that it is often found at the site of old homesites. Multiplies.  And multiplies.

I also moved some daffodils that I planted in the lawn years ago.  My thought was to turn the lawn into a golden sea.  Could have happened, but since the foliage needs to ripen before cutting, it meant I couldn’t mow the lawn until just before the Annual Rose Viewing. Not good. This isn’t the best time, obviously, to move a plant about to bloom, but it had to be done, and I think they will settle in and bloom. They were only out of the ground for a few

minutes.

The scillas, Siberian squills, are in full bloom, not only the ones that have self seeded in the weeds that came up earlier. 

Lots of cleaning up. Brush from downed trees.  Weeds and wild raspberries in the rhubarb bed where I added compost.

I started building a new compost pile next to the slowly evolving Potager. Still moving cardboard and wood chips for paths.

The seeds that I moved into a temporary cold frame are thriving.  I also planted sweet peas on the White Trellis, crib sides I pulled out of the metal bin at the Transfer Station, and Sugar Snap peas on a piece of fencing from the shed.The photo shows the plastic compost bin filled with fall leaves. I also planted Detroit Red Beets, Green Ice Lettuce and Neon Lights Chard. My seeds came from Fedco  and Renee’s Garden.

The lettuce starts, Red Fire, planted in front of the house in a new bed have suffered from being planted too early, and being bitten by frost a couple of times, but it is holding on.  I planted lettuce and spinach seeds next to the starts.

Buds are swelling on the lilacs, tree peonies, rhododendrons, and even one early peony. Last fall I moved division of Joan Elliot campanula to the new cellar door bank and it is up, as is alchemilla.  Rain is promised. Spring is here!