In addition to spending the last couple of weekends cutting down all the dried up stalks from last year’s perennials (including buddleia) and checking for signs of life, I have been making the rounds on all my shrubbery as well. The lilacs were the first to sprout leaves and are still way ahead of the pack. Everything else is in very early leafing stages. Just little bumps you can see will be leaves.
One can never take for granted that any shrub, no matter how beloved, will come back year after year. It is always a relief to see those signs of life, especially if it is a shrub you planted last season. A first winter can bring surprises. I have two young privets in the same location; one is fine, the other shows no signs of leaves yet. I did the old “scratch test”…you know, scratch off a little bark and see if it’s green…and it is green, but I’ve learned that’s not definitive either. It’s a positive sign, but the shrub might also be on the verge of death. (If the scratch test reveals no green, abandon all hope.) Another week or two should tell for sure. By the way, one shrub you can’t do the scratch test on is summersweet…that bark is like iron. Summersweet is also very late to wake, though, so no reason to panic there yet.
I always keep my receipts for shrubs with guarantees in an easy-to-find place, and pay attention to how long I have to return them. If I’m going to pay good money for a shrub or tree, I always buy from a nursery with a one-year guarantee. Makes it alot less painful if it doesn’t come back. However, here’s hoping that all our shrubs do this year!
I was late to the party with crocuses. I planted my first several dozen just two years ago and am so very glad I did. (Even though I had to keep bricks on top of the bulbs the first winter to discourage squirrels from digging them up.) I put them in a low-maintenance section of my garden, consisting of mostly shrubs, so that they can multiply freely without accidental interference from me. For the past week, I’ve been enjoying the show, with more performances to come. Some may wonder if it’s worth the trouble, planting bulbs for flowers with such a brief life span. All I’ll say to that is, FLOWERS, in MARCH. What gardener wouldn’t want to see that? For your viewing pleasure, I will also include a long shot of one section of my garden with crocuses, so I can show off my beloved gardening cat statue, who clearly is enjoying the flowers.
Cait's Garden 
