Cait's Garden

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!