First Crocus 2017 and Mulching in February Because I Can

Crocus vigil 2017 began with the first sighting on February 12, this little guy was poking through the mulch when I got back from my trip to Washington DC.

Crocus watch 2017 - first one poking through on February 12, probably emerged a couple days before. 

Still no blooms. We had a cold snap come through and everything pretty much stopped where it was. Here's a status update:

Sedum 'Dazzleberry' on February 24, 2017

Royal Candles also on February 24

Unknown creeping sedum in the rocks looking pretty gorgeous, February 24

Surprise Lily - February 24, 2017, these things are early risers ready to go!

Mulching on this unusually warm day in February

21 Inch Tall Rabbit Fence with Zip Ties

So I wrote a whole blog post about adding a 9 inch tall welded wire fence around the base of my aluminum fence in order to keep my small dog(s) in the yard. The aluminum fence is attractive, but the rungs are a little to wide to keep the dogs in if they are motivated to wiggle out. The 9 inch tall addition did the trick no problem, but I noticed that it did absolutely nothing about the rabbits. I was aggravated to no end all last spring, especially when they decapitated my Dusseldorf Pride.


I would let the dogs out at night and watch the rabbits run away and simply jump the 9 inch fence between the rungs, no problem. Since I actually watched them hop it a few times, I was guessing that 21 inches would be enough to prevent them from getting in. They might be able to clear 21 inches if it were out in the open, but since they also have to aim through the vertical rungs I'm hoping this will be tall enough to stop them. The whole point of having an attractive aluminum fence is so you don't have to have this wire mesh or chain link. I think at 21 inches tall, it's still subtle enough that the overall impression of the fence isn't too tacky.

This spring, I'm not messing around, I bought the same kind of fence from last time: 16 gauge black vinyl coated welded wire fence with 2"x3" rectangles. I used zip ties to hold it in place, just like last time. With a little help from my super handy room mate, we installed it in a couple hours.

Each rectangle is 3 inches tall so we have 7 rectangles vertical for 21 inch fence that should be enough to keep the rabbits from simply jumping over. They might be able to clear 21 inches if it were out in the open, but along with the aluminum fence it should be enough of an obstacle - fingers crossed. 

Of course after the fence was in place, it only took the rabbits a day or so to find the gaps around the bottom where they could just duck under and get in. So then I took a spare piece of fence and stuck it into the ground temporarily blocking the low spot where they got in.

Rabbits found the low spot, and slipped under the temporary block with this spare piece of fence. My next step was to dig the tongs 3 inches into the ground and add some fill to actually raise the ground level in this spot. 

As you can see from the photo, they actually dug under that and bent the tong back that was touching the ground. Arrrg! That does it! I cut off a strip and stuck the wires 3 inches into the ground and had extra rectangles at the top, then I filled that in with some left over soil and sod scraps to actually raise the level of the ground up to the fence. So far so good, no rabbit poop in the yard since adding the bottom layer in these particular low spots.

Winter Clean Up Around the Utility Box

I noticed that the rabbit eating all my liriope and coral bells likes to hide in the tall grass around my utility box, so I decided now was a good a time as any to cut those grasses down and clean up the brush a bit.

Winter utility box garden clean up - I like to leave it a little brushy and not strip it down to bare mulch. I've even amended the soil with dead sod and this bed already has some of the nicest soil in my yard. 

I let my iris hang around a lot longer than I usually do, and the long leaves actually were a nice glowing golden color for a while, but then they started to turn leathery and decompose so it was time to do away with them. I hacked back the Russian sage and clipped the Shasta daisies as well.

I'm not so sure about my newest additions, the Gaura lindheimeri, because it seems to be on the border of hardiness zones - some sites say 5-9, some say 7-9. I'm fine if it wants to die back to the roots as long as my precious sale table plants don't bite the dust completely!