So why did we move it?  It was first planted here before I live in this townhouse, by the original owners.  But some time later, they added a blue spruce to the corner (there’s a story about that tree, but some other time).  The blue spruce has now taken over the corner, and the Japanese Maple, which had some afternoon sun and room to spread, now has neither.  I’ve been pruning it back every year, trying to make it fit into the increasingly small space, but it’s time to make a change.  Just in time, my gardening neighbors decided to move a beautiful viburnum bush from the middle of a partly sunny bed out in our front lawn area, leaving a nice spot for a small spreading tree.

It took us over two weeks to get the Japanese Maple to release its hold in this part of the earth – we went out and spaded around it every few days, slowly loosening it and separating it from the entangled roots in the area.  When we finally got it out and moved it over to its new home, I realized just how much smaller it is than a similar Japanese Maple planted in that area at about the same time, some 10 – 12 years ago.  Our tree is maybe one third the size of that tree – a sign that it really needs to be in a space with more room to grow.  I’m glad we moved it, as hard as it was.

Now it’s time to start re-arranging plants in my front sidewalk garden…

If you live in the North Cambridge area, please come by to share your extra plants, or pick up some free plants – or just encourage us! We’ll be out from 2 – 4 p.m.

These photos are by Richard Curran, a talented photographer who is also one of my Cambridge Cohousing neighbors.  (BTW, you can see more photos of his at the North Cambridge Open Studios this weekend.)

And a neighbor from next door came over and shot this short video of our wildlife star:

The turkey is not our only recent wildlife visitor.  I put my hand into a heath plant yesterday afternoon and surprised a small snake.  Last week, my husband surprised a possum in one of our compost bins.  Of course, in both cases, the surprise was mutual.

I made two major changes this spring:

First, we removed the boards from around the edges of the plots.  These were built by one of my neighbors when we first moved to Cambridge Cohousing, around 1997, and served then as a visual notification that we cared about this property.  Over the years, though, as they’ve gradually fallen apart, we decided not to maintain them and started taking them off, one by one.  The partly boarded/partly not arrangement had started to look – to my eyes – kind of scraggly, and seemed to signal to passerby that it was fine to drop your trash or not pick up after your dog.   We took off all the boards, and now, with softer dirt edges around all the plots, this has become a much friendlier and safer sidewalk for anyone with wheels – people using wheelchairs, people pushing strollers, and the occasional sidewalk bicycle rider (mostly children).

Second, I mulched all of the plots.  With the boards off, I was concerned that the “natural” dirt edges would signal “nobody cares about these areas” and attract more trash.  So when the commercial landscaper came to plant our main lawn fence border, we got extra mulch, and I used a bunch to mulch over the little plots.  I didn’t realize what an impact this would have, but it’s made all of the beds look like they are “formal” gardens, and the plants are planned, not weeds.  We’ve seen much less dog poop and litter in the plots since I made these two changes.  I hope it continues, even when the rain stops!

The Shooting Stars (Dodacatheon amesthystinum) are spectacular this spring!  I planted
these on my deck in April, 2008 (purchased at New England Wildflower Society).  They’ve always produced one or two beautiful flowers, but this spring, there are eight or more flower stalks, with more flowers opening every day.

The plant sharing this container is American Ipecac (Porteranthus stipulatus) which grows up nicely as the Shooting Stars fade.  There’s also some Bee Balm in here, just appearing in the foreground. I love having perennials in the containers on my deck… just add spring!

I love the way different plants emerge and transform every day, almost in front of my eyes.  In fact, this is the time is the time of year when I spend long moments outside just looking.  I am often teased by my neighbors who ask me “Are you praying over your plants?” or “Do you think they will come up faster if you watch them?” and so on.  Looking back now on the pictures of the first crocuses, it’s funny to think how excited I was then.  Then I thought they were gorgeous, now I think they look so scraggly and bare!

Here’s a close-up photo, where you can see more individual plants.  The bulbs – grape hyacinth, mini narcissus and a few purple and purple-tinged white tulips- provide most of the colors at this time of the year.  The heuchera, deep red and green versions, have leafed out now.  There’s a beautiful large-leafed clover that arrived on its own this spring, and I’ve decided it’s not a weed.  In the top right, you can see the few hostas and an astilbe that I have left in for now, until I can establish more shade-loving, dry-tolerant natives.  And then there’s lots of day lily greens – mostly these are Stella D’Oro that were here when I started.

We do have snow in April in Boston in many years, but when this variety emerges, I know the winter is really over.

Grow Native Massachusetts is sponsoring a May Day festival with fine food and wine, friends and flowers. It is both a fundraising event for this worthy organization and an opportunity to buy native plants at great prices.  Details on their website, here: http://www.grownativemass.org/programs/festivalfloralia

I think the peak of our cherry blossoms was last week, maybe April 21 or 22, which is about 17 or 18 days later than the peak last year.   This fits with what others are saying in the gardening blogosphere about this spring being later than the spring of 2010, which was unusually early.  My impression is that the gardens in general are doing much better this year, and speculate that the long period of snow cover was good for our natives (though the storms damaged many trees).

I got this plant from the New England Wildflower Society in April, 2008, and it has produced only a single bloom to date.  This year, I got four!  After it’s finished blooming, I will try to divide it and create some new flowers under the dwarf plum tree on my deck, since it blooms long before the leaves arrive on the tree.  It would be wonderful to have clusters of them growing next spring.

The common name refers to its tendency to bloom around Easter.  I looked it up this year and learned that one variant is the state flower of South Dakota, and it is sometimes called a prairie crocus.  Which brings me to a final point: although I call this a “native,” it is actually native to the midwestern US and doesn’t grow naturally in this area.  So while it buoys our spirits in the spring, it probably doesn’t support any insects in this region.

First choice: Cliff Green (Paxistima canbyi).  This looks completely untouched by winter! My only complaint about this plant is that it is only slightly larger than when I first planted it, in September, 2007.  I wish it would spread a little faster. [Follow up note: online search suggests that this plant thrives in alkaline soils, while my gardens are mostly acidic, which may contribute to its slow growth.]

Next up: Dog Hobble (Leocothoe fontanesiana). The commercial landscaper working on our fence border said he’d seen problems with disease with this plant, but it’s done well for me ever since August, 2009. It hasn’t yet covered our foundation, and I look forward to it doing so.  What a great alternative to big box evergreen shrubs.

Two low ground cover plants look surprisingly good for this time of year:

This is Parlin’s Pussytoes (Antennaria parlinii ssp. fallax).  It is not supposed to be evergreen, but it seems to have come through this winter with hardly any leaf loss.  I first bought this as an erosion-control ground cover to replace the invasive Creeping Jenny I found when I got this.  I wasn’t crazy about its looks, but the longer I have it, the more I like it.  Its relatively large leaves cover the ground in green, and it spreads nicely, yet is well behaved, moving around other plants and easy to dig up when necessary. As you can see, I have it in among irises (a family request), that would otherwise leave this area bare this time of year.

Barren Strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) is advertised as an evergreen and its leaves do stay green and glossy through the New England winter.  You can see that they also sustain some winter damage.  On the other hand, the debris you can see on these leaves is from sanded snow shoveled on top of this bed over the winter – in these circumstances, perhaps we should be impressed by how little damage it sustained.

One other plant worth mentioning: Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). This one turned such a deep bronze red over the winter it doesn’t jump out, but it is nonetheless an elegant survivor.  I have this in a tough place, on a sloping corner where it is often stepped on or run over by trash barrels.  I am going to try another plant in a more hospitable spot in this area.