Spring

Spring really started in earnest this weekend. Mild temperatures allowed me to continue garden clean up. There are still leaves and other winter debris in all corners. I'm trying to work one section at a time - and not go into a total frenzy. I finished about 1/4 of the garden cleanup and about 1/2 of the mulching so far. I haven't even begun to divide or move plants.

Volunteers are ready to rock & roll in the community gardens. Blumenplatz is Bethlehem's Musikfest garden located behind the public library. (The Star of Bethlehem represented in dusty miller is pictured here after initial planting in 2005.) Work on the garden began this week with fence scraping and primer paint. The new color will be hunter green.

Bethlehm's sister city is Tondabayashi, Japan. Bethlehem Garden Club is responsible for maintenance of the "Garden of Serenity" (located next to the library). Mr. and Mrs. Fenninger and Yoshinaga Sakon, one of Japan's outstanding landscape architects, created a tea house and garden in 1971. Spring maintenance begins this week.

Bethlehem Garden Club is also responsible for The Miller's House Garden located in the Industrial Quarter of Historic Bethlehem. This Colonial to Victorian age garden includes old time roses and kitchen garden herbs and vegetables as well as other period flowering plants and shrubs.

Happy Spring! Get out the liniment.