Garden of Galadriel

Partner and I did a bit of gardening today, as it was not overly cold and miserable. We had a viburnum overgrowing its intended space so we dug it up. It had layered itself into a few new little shrublets so two of them got transplanted and the parent bush got consigned to the compost bin. I prefer big shrubs to be at the back of the border, and this one was big, yet badly placed at the front by a previous owner many years ago. I usually gave it a generous haircut every spring, but it just kept getting bigger and bushier. Compare the following photos: the first from spring 2007, and the second from this afternoon. I will use the new free space for flowers next year; it's a premium spot getting full sun in the summer.







One of the babies was transplanted to a different part of the garden and the other got stuck in a pot next to the house for safekeeping. If it gets stronger and bushier I may find a spot for it next spring. It's a nice bush, which flowers in the dead of winter when everything else is asleep. So I didn't want to just get rid of it. The black pot holds the baby viburnum; other pots have what's left of the carrots and beets. I've also optimistically planted spring cabbage, sweet peas, and broad beans this week, for next year's crop. I've never grown cabbage or broad beans (or even eaten that kind of bean), but they are both meant to be harvested in May, so if they're successful, we'll be eating produce about two months earlier than usual.

And the photo of the Very Large Mushroom, with my shoe as a size reference to prove my dainty feet are so small I could wear a mushroom as a shoe.