I got to follow along as Mike (co-owner of Joy Creek) did his pruning workshop. A question that comes up a lot is how to care for Hydrangeas, so I thought I would share the pruning tips I picked up along the way. In the spring, your shrub should look like this, having left the blooms on the plant through the winter. It may run counter to certain neatnik tendencies but is better for the health of the plant.

The flowers darken, then fade and even skeletonize with the winter weather and can be beautiful, even bouquet-worthy, at every stage.

Early in March, a mature plant can benefit from taking out the oldest branches. Look for the oldest wood (it will be gnarlier) and cut it out at the base. This provides air circulation and reinvigorates the plant.

Leave the faded blooms on the remaining branches until mid-April. In Portland, we still run a risk of a late freeze and the flowers protect emerging buds if that should happen.

When the time comes (danger of a late frost has passed) snip the flowering stem just above the first set of green buds like the ones you see above.

By refreshing your Hydrangeas in this way every few years, you can look forward to stunning displays year after year.

R has his hands full, cleaning up the storm damage.

It was plenty beautiful. Our house is completely hidden at the end of that little trail through 18″ of snow that lingered for a week.

Even when the sun came out, the snow stayed…it was so cold.

The ancient cherry tree in front had two huge limbs shatter.

They were kind enough to descend slowly to rest gently on the roof of the deck.

Limbs came down from many of the large evergreens that circle the property.

The little birch grove along the drive is sadly depleted.

The devastation to the ‘Thunderhead’ pine was, to me, the greatest blow. I’m pretty sure it will recover but it had reached a configuration that I had been working on for 10 or more years. Other things that got some extreme pruning from Mom Nature were Ozothamnus several Ceanothus and a mature Cornus kousa. The sun is shining today, Joy Creek will open soon and spring gets closer every day. Time, indeed to keep clam and carry on.

Dontcha just love hostess gifts? These real eggshells were hollowed out to receive some tiny sedums and sempervivums (hens and chicks), putting a new spin on the chicken or egg conundrum. Peter (the Outlaw Gardener) featured some eggshell planters that are made of porcelain. It’s a fun idea, either way.

This was so easy. Late fall, Freddie’s had bulbs on sale, buy one get one free. They went into a couple of clay pots over the winter and now bring all kinds of cheer to our front steps. Credit goes to (Jason) for reminding me to do this (his display is about ten times more extravagant).

Just in case you are suspicious of the “tough love sale”, this Magnolia stellata came from there last fall, and just look at it.

Impossible to truly capture (except for a few of you) but the morning light these past few days compels me to try.

And I simply could not stop at one…nor two, but I’ll refrain from that old home movie habit of putting you to sleep. We’re looking to have an exceptional spring weekend…hope yours is great too.

My favorite Iris is one of the last to bloom. Can you see how velvety/satiny it is?

I’ll step a little closer so you can share the love.

This was added last year from our visit to Schreiner’s Iris Gardens. It goes by the unfortunate name of ‘Alley Oops’, which makes me feel not so bad about having no name for that deep mahogany beauty.

As the Physocarpus continues to load up on blossoms, the long branches arch over into even more of a fountain shape.

Blue eyed grass is a ferocious reseeder, but I forget all about that when its blue eyes are winking at me in shafts of sunlight.

For some reason, a massive patch of Stachys petered out this year, but look what was liberated: abrilliant orange Geum

You lose some, you win some…the kousa dogwoods are loaded with blooms this year.

Look at the spurs on the columbine called ‘Swallowtail’. I made a calculated guess that leaving some of those darned buttercups around this plant would help to prop it up. That it does, but it’s also seemingly sapping its strength. Guess I’ll have to come up with a better solution to the flopping ways of Swallowtail.

Not a problem for A. ‘Black Barlow’. Its leonine ruffs stand up at perfect attention. Thanks, unknown blogger, for bringing this to a swap last year.

Now for a quick peek at Delusional Drive. We’re standing a little past where the first iris shots were taken, looking towards the entrance. In the distance you can just see the blue of Ceanothus ‘Victoria’, echoed by a lone blue iris in the middle distance.

Moving along, you can see that there is quite a bit of yellow-green foliage that plays nicely with the blue.

Here’s a close-up of ‘Victoria’ at her best.

On the other side of the drive, Helianthemum ‘Henfields’s Brilliant’ brightens things up and does a nice job of obscuring the dying foliage of daffodils past.

A wayward foxglove seemed to know I would welcome a dash of hot pink against the red-orange.

Now here’s a question for you. I adopted a scraggly twig with no label at the Cistus ‘Tough Love’ sale two years ago. This year it rewarded me for the TLC by leafing out prettily and producing one coy little bottlebrush blossom. Any idea what this is?