Plants Arrive Early; Path Puzzle Solved!

It was a perfect weekend for gardening. I pulled weeds, pruned the roses and cut down five-foot clumps of ornamental grass. The dead grass made such a tall pile that I wondered what to do with it. The trash bin was full. You can't compost it since it doesn't break down--

That's exactly what the paths between the raised beds needed. I put a thick layer of the grass and some dead perennial stems on the paths where they'll last a long time and help block weeds. I'll still put down cardboard and mulch to make it look better, but this helped solve two problems at once.

Mail-order plants are already arriving, leafy and green. It's much too early to plant them here at the northern edge of Zone 6, where it's a month away from the last average frost. Maybe the nursery doesn't have enough employees to take care of the plants, so they're sending them out. In any case, the seedlings and geraniums growing in the basement have a couple of hydrangeas to keep them company. 

Haas Halo hydrangea. Photo from Plants Nouveau.

Saturday morning, I didn't think I'd have a productive weekend because I woke up coughing and had a scratchy throat. But after a cough drop and some fresh air, I felt fine. That's a huge improvement from two years ago when I had chronic bronchitis and then a summer cold.