Spring Clean-up and my First Alliums

My garden resembled a musty old attic until I cleaned up the rest of the plant debris in the raised beds today. I hacked and pulled at the Lamb's ears agressively, and after I was done, it looked like a woolly animal had been sheared in my rock garden. I once read that grey-colored plants have a tendency to steadily creep into new horizons, and that seems to be true for my Cerastium tomentosum (Snow in Summer) and Stachys byzantina (Lamb's ears).

Sloped flower bed -- notice there's not many flowers yet (we're not in Victoria anymore!)

The center of a large cluster of Lamb's ears always dies out, so it's good to just go crazy and pull pieces out of it like mad. Mine always ends up looking great in summer despite the springtime assault. I have three big bunches in the sloped flower bed (above).

The center raised bed has a few tulips, alliums, and other perennials just beginning to show.

I am quite excited about this Allium "Gladiator", which I thought was a bit of a gamble when I planted it in the fall. It is recommended for zones 4-8, which is a stretch for our zone 1b location.

A favourable microclimate in our yard (a bit elevated, next to a lake) may allow this plant to grow here, as most perennials in our yard are for zone 3 and they all do well. I hope the alliums bloom, because these bulbs were a bit expensive (though not so much as to stop me from buying more next fall).

Today was nice and sunny, distracting us from the fact that you could still go ice-fishing in the lake. Ha! These Pulsatilla vulgaris look cozy, with blooms wrapped in little hairy sweaters.