First Day of Spring Update: Patriot and Japanese Forest Grass

It's the first day of Spring, and we're in the middle of a 2 day cold snap with lows down to 27°F, no thanks! Anyway, here is an update on a few things I'm obsessively watching in my yard:

Hosta 'Patriot' is waking up already, about 15 days earlier than last year! I'm calling these the Eyes of March, get it? (Beware the Ides of March).

Below, I've never been more excited to see 3 teeny tiny sprouts of Japanese Forest Grass. It's alive! After being transplanted twice and eaten by rabbits down to the ground, it came back! On a side note, my forest grass (left) is about the same progress, albeit smaller, than my parents' in Dayton (right).

Below, here is a good sign, I've got new growth on my Pieris 'Passion' - my Japanese Andromeda shrub. I hope it grows 5 feet tall, it will look great next to my Japanese forest grass if they both live and reach full size. My side yards are looking particularly Asian with these and my Japanese painted fern and bamboo on the other side.

Pieris japonica 'Passion' new growth on Japanese Andromeda shrub

Here's hoping that the cold mornings don't kill off all this great progress. I think it will be fine since the hostas haven't opened up yet and especially my hydrangea haven't leafed out since those are the ones that experienced some frost damage last year. Who knows, still plenty of time for a cold front or even some April snow wouldn't be out of the question.

First day of Spring 2016