Signs of Life: More Early Spring Awakenings

The morning of the lunar eclipse on April 4 should be the last 30°F below freezing night for the next week (and hopefully for the rest of the season). I gave my side yard a closer look and noticed signs of life - I think I'm most excited for my shade plants to come in because I got them all as divisions or on sale in the fall and I can't wait to see what they grow into!

First up, Brunnera macrophylla 'Silver Heart' with its little fuzzy ears poking through the mulch. Its new growth doesn't look like a hosta eye, it doesn't look as hard and already has little fuzzy hairs on it.

Brunnera macrophylla 'Silver Heart' first signs of life April 4, 2015

Next, the Heuchera 'Sugar Plum' Coral Bells, which stayed maroon the longest into winter, but then promptly dried up and looked pretty dead. I was pulling some leaves off and noticed a set of smaller more supple-looking baby leaves - it looks like it's very much alive! These leaves don't come out in shoots like the Silver Heart does, it looks like they are already unfolded but just tiny at first.

 Heuchera 'Sugar Plum' Coral Bells emerging April 4, 2015 in Indiana

Let's see what we have next, I took a look around by the air conditioner and I couldn't believe what I saw staring back at me - little purple hosta "eyes" in the mulch. New hosta shoots are sometimes called eyes, and apparently in hosta lingo people discuss their hosta size based on the number of eyes. These are the plants I got from division, and I'm 95% sure it's Hosta 'Patriot' based on the color and the popularity/availability in town.

Hosta 'Patriot' eyes in April. Looks like this one has 3 eyes emerging so far.