Lenten Roses: Uncover their Beauty

Hello! It's spring out there! The birds are singing and the sun is shining. What snow remains are the piles the plow pushed up. The ground is soggy and the garden looks like a dead mess.

But wait.

I see green.





Blue bells are the first sign of spring at my Maryland home. But they are not the only ones. Hidden Lenten Roses are covered under ugly, gnarled leaves flopped over and buried under brown leaves. They are trying to make their presence known.


Every spring, I cut the old foliage back from my nine Lenten Roses. I don't want to miss the gradual unfurling of the leaves followed by their nodding pale green and mauve petals.



I gathered my trusty tools. My Foxgloves gardening gloves and my clippers (which I sharpen with every use by running a whetstone over them).


Twenty minutes later and my beauties can see the light of this lovely 65 degree day. All those dead leaves fill a wheel barrow. In two more weeks they should be in bloom.

Bud

New Foliage

Cleared Lenten Rose patch.

First in my series of spring gardening tasks. Watch me tactical my garden this spring, one day at a time, one section at a time. A few minutes a day is all it will take to make my garden amazing and save my ailing body from keeling over.