It's Spring in Chicagoland!

If it's lovely and warm today, snowy and cold tomorrow, it must be Spring in Chicagoland!  One warm day reminds us that it's time to do something outside.  First up: stroll the estate and see if anything's coming up.  Seems like everyone else's snowdrops had appeared before mine, but on March 17, they made their entrance (9 days later than 2010).

Snowdrops

Winter Aconite

I see a lot of downed sticks to pick up but I'm going to allow the fallen leaves to stay and decompose in place.  They won't hurt anything.  Any nice day now would be fine to cut back ornamental grasses and any perennial seedheads left standing for winter interest.  Don't prune spring blooming shrubs!  No flowers this year if you do.
No rush on these tasks, but they are fun to do while we wait for spring to really get underway.  If you don't feel like taking these tasks on, call Fraser Landscapes!  We of course, love that kind of thing.