The weather has been so great. We got back Tuesday and Wednesday I was in the garden. I started where I left off with the lilies, (there were 2 that I didn’t get to). I did one and couldn’t help but notice what a horrible mess the adjacent bed was in. In this bed I have Bee Balm. Tons of that horrible clumpy grass I was dealing with in the front perennial garden and some moss. I cleaned most of it out and then instead of finishing that bed, I moved to the bed directly behind it, by the shed, as this was also a mess. I chose to do this because the Hostas are not up yet and it is easier for me to get deep in the bed to take care of the Hellebores.
This bed has a Crape Myrtle, a small Holly shrub, Hostas, Columbine, Lady’s Mantle, Hellebores, and Artemisia, (can you guess by the plants that it is a shade garden). That sounds like a lot of plants but its really not crowded at all being it is a very small bed. I cut back the Artemisia and picked up a ton of sticks and pine needles. The Hellebores, (Lenten Rose), like all the others I had previously done, had to have all the old leaves cut off and also take up all the new babies. As you can see in the picture, all of the Hellebores multiply like crazy. I threw out probably more than fifty and left a few to dig up later to give away.
The left and right pictures are all new plants. The middle picture is how it looks now after being trimmed . I just love these flowers!