Some lovely spring weather this March. The snow disappeared quickly, and I could have my first walk about the garden.
The snow drops are out and really spreading. I don’t remember so many clumps before. Crocuses are blooming and spreading across the lawn.
And that’s where the fun ends.
I can’t even post pictures. The rabbits stripped two magnolias, the fragrant viburnum, the burning bushes, and the flowering dogwoods. Many other shrubs have been nibbled and chewed back. Even evergreens have been damaged. I was thinking some of the shrubs were getting big enough to handle some rabbit feasting, but this was too much. They went for shrubs that have never been damaged in 20 years!
Very discouraging to think about those shrubs and trees starting all over again.
I don’t think the ground really froze hard under all the snow we had, so the voles/moles had a great time burrowing in the lawns and flower beds, digging up perennial roots, and generally leaving trails of destruction.
It gets worse.
The pond heater failed. The pond froze nearly solid. All of my beautiful goldfish are dead. Some of them were in there for a dozen years or more. So sad.
And to top it off, these appeared at the back of our property this week.
Picturesque maybe. But these shrub nibbling, hosta chewing, tulip munching creatures are not welcome guests in the garden. I’m watching every dusk to scare them off.
So, I guess things can only get better now, right?