The Polar Vortex and then the Deluge

Winter came early and stayed late this year. It was, in a word, relentless. We had mountains of snow and bone-chilling temperatures--forever. (On the way home from a business trip last week, my weather app notified me that there was a frost warning at home.) I had thought the mountains of snow would protect the plants, but when it finally melted (right around Easter time), I saw that many plants didn't survive. I lost all three of my azaleas, one arborvitae, a couple of boxwoods, and my beloved Crown Princess Margrethe rose shrub.

Because winter came so early, I focused on getting things in the veggie beds that I hadn't gotten planted rather than doing a thorough job of raking. I was surprised in April when I raked 22 lawn bags of leaves! (I’m choosing to attribute the great number of leaves partly to the fact that many leaves hadn't dropped by the time our first snow fell.) I couldn't have done that cursory a job in the fall, could I?!

Raking seemed like a good starting place this year. We’d had so much rain--and were expecting more--that the sodden leaves would have become more a hindrance to the plants than a help. Raking gave me a chance to take stock of the beds and see how much damage the Polar Vortex had wrought. And, it was a psychological boost to see the landscape shift from brown to green. Ahhhhh.