The mature garden looks after itself. The backbone of the garden, the trees, shrubs and above all the perennials, staged for bloom and colour fairly well takes care of itself. The amount of labour involved in tending, trimming, plucking weeds and tying up floral stalks is fairly minimal in such a garden.

In spring there is plenty of activity with the basic clean-up required from the winter season just passed, along with the planting of annuals, particularly when, as we have, there are plenty of garden pots to be filled for additional, ongoing summer form, texture, fragrance and colour.

It helps considerably that the major garden clean-up takes place in the fall, when perennials are cut back, the garden pots emptied of their soil, the flowering annuals like begonias are stored in the basement to overwinter and be re-potted the following spring, and everything is ship-shape to go through the winter.

But at this time of year, as the various plants evolve into brilliant form and colour, brightening the garden landscape, for the most part all that is required is relaxed appreciation of the bounty that previous dedication has produced.