The past month was rough. A polar vortex arrived and overstayed its welcome. With temperatures freezing or well below, gardening was out of the question. I stayed inside and guzzled hot tea.

On Monday I had my 2nd Covid-19 vaccine. As usual, the day dawned miserably cold and rainy. I bundled up, drove to the vaccine site and got my shot. As I drove away I noticed the rain had stopped. Something else was weird. The sky was blue and the sun was out. The sun was shining! The polar vortex was leaving! I know it was coincidence, but it was such a happy coincidence.

1.  At the moment, the brightest color in my garden is orange. The flags mark where I’ll be planting the sumac when they arrive in late March. They’re spaced 5 feet apart. The sumac spreads up to 8 feet so eventually the hill should be well covered.

2. This is what the hill looked like in early January after a few days of pulling out vinca.

This is what it looks like now. The cold weather slowed progress on my hillside war on vinca, but I’m getting close. Teetering on a slope, yanking vinca and its tangled roots for hours, has not been fun. Even with all the mulch I’ve dumped on it, the hill is surprisingly barren. In all that space, I’ve only found worms, a few beetles and a lizard.

3. To spare my lawnmower, I dug up the remnants of the Earthball in the lawn.

It had a sort of a bowl shape. I “planted” it on the hill.

4. I transplanted the sedum from the front yard, to the hill. It should fit in nicely with the sumac. It seems to like its new ‘digs.’

5. There are a few mysteries up there, like this purple thing.

6. And this may turn out to be a tree.

Head on over to The Propagator, host of Six on Saturday, where gardeners from around the world gather, share ideas and inspiration.