The Third Week Of January In The Garden

Mark your calenders, it's the first garden post of 2015.  Eeeeee! Which means a new Pinterest board, of course.  My 2015 Garden. Eeeeee!  For those of you out of the loop, I pin the majority of my garden photos to a board dedicated to that year.  You can see 2014's board here and 2013's board here.

So on Sunday, in between cooking for Monday's big football game, and purging more house stuff, I said to The Dad, I need to take pictures outside.  He looked at me like I was crazy and asked, Of what?!  My answer, Green!!!!  So out the door I headed, camera in hand.

My yard is a train wreck right now.  And if I was being 100% myself, that would have had an expletive in front of it.  I don't know why I would expect any different.  I stop doing anything in the yard in October, so come January, it looks the way it looks right now.  I would be beyond embarrassed for anyone to see it.  The dog poop situation out back, alone, is horrifying.  Enter the miraculous world of Blogdom.  I only have to show you what I want.  Dog poop cropped out for your viewing pleasure.

So the first plant I went after with my lens is this ivy.

It's been on the patio all winter and seems to be happy as a clam.

Up next, a boxwood that's in the ground is getting all kinds of new growth.

This is that Summer Daffodil that I planted last spring.  

I was happy to see it came back.

The Marsh Marigolds are comin' on fast and furious.

The front and back will be a sea of them in no time.

I should give you an example of what it looks like when I pull back.

Here we have a beautiful Cleome.

And this is a gorgeous pot of Black-Eyed Susan Vine.

But if you look past the mess, you can see my Hellebore there on the right side.

All of last year's leaves need to be cut off, but looky what it's doing.

Buds, buds, and more buds.

This sucker gets HUGE.

I was also super excited to see some of my Columbine coming.

I've never had much luck with them coming back, for whatever reason.

Out front, my Daphne is loaded with buds.

Two of the ornamental kale that I planted last fall are REALLY pretty right now.

Instead of being mostly that grayish-green, they're now a pretty purplish-pink color.

This one is in a pot on the porch.

This one's in a pot down in the yard.

This silly Daffodil is up early every year.

It looks like someone decided to use the first bud as their lunch. 

Dang slugs.

Down in the parking strip, the Candytuft I planted late last summer is blooming.

And the Lavender, that I also planted really late, has so far made it through the winter, so I'm anxious to see what it does this year.

So far, that's a whole lotta green and brown, but things are starting to happen out there.

Now I just need a few warm days to get out and get some things cleaned up.

P.S.  My best friend's doggy Bourbon, affectionately known as, "Bubby", passed away last night.  Good thoughts put out to the universe for him and his family while they grieve would be much appreciated.