Late April "Around the Beds" - A Snapshot of Garden Happenings Right Now - April 2026

Spring is moving too quickly around here for individual entries into my garden diary, so I'm doing this little garden stroll/round-up of images and happenings in the garden.

Starting out with a garden 'loss'.  The freaking rabbits killed one of my Canadian Hemlock trees.  I spotted this problem in January, but now the tree is officially DEAD.  Too bad.  This tree was nurtured for years from a small 8" tall tiny tree.  Below are two photos.  On the left is the de-needled carcass.  On the right is a photo of the trunk that has been gnaw'ed-at.  Jerks. 

In happier-garden-news, the tulips up near the sidewalk IB2DWs bloomed mid-April and looked great.  You can see them below, along with a peek at the Sedum and the Purple Smokebush Tree on the far left of the photo:

One of the deciduous shrubs that I've really fallen-for the past few years is Matcha Ball Fern-leaf Spirea.  I planted one in the front yard island bed last May, so this is the first Spring.  It looks good up there:

I have another one in the [kitchen curved] bed.  You can see that one below.  It is from that (now) famous (to me) Fall 2023 planting sprint.  It sits behind the Ajuga Chocolate Chip and in, amongst some of the Astilbes along the border.  

The Greenspire Lindens are budding out.  I pruned these two trees pretty hard.  Harder than I have done in the past.  I'll be watching them as they leaf-out this year, but I'm happy to see the lime-green buds.  But, that's not the only thing to note in the photo below.  Check out the boxwoods.  Compare the photo below to the photos in this post from May 2024.  Just about 2 years ago.  They've put on some good size since then and have maintained that nice ball-shape.

Next....the sedges are really popping-off right now.   I'm *pretty sure* that these below are Carex Bromides.  They are doing their thing and I need to remember this feeling when I'm up at Northwind Perennial Farm this Summer.  Hey, Jake:  Buy more sedges.  

Another star plant from Northwind Perennial Farm up in Wisconsin is Shredded Umbrella Plant.  I now have it in two spots - one on each side of the back yard.  Below is a look at the just-emerging foliage from the three that I added to the southside last Summer.  You can also peep those Sedges on the left.

The Morton Arboretum Plant Sale went down late last week, so I have my hands-full in terms of showing off some new stuff.  Stay tuned for that.