'Tis another season for planting perennials.

Your Scribe has been forced to be a planting fool in the spring.

When Burt, my builder, constructed the cabin, he put it on stanchions that put the structure about three feet off the ground.

I don't know why he did this, because the parcel is not on a flood plain.

But there it is.

Visually, this does not look right because there is so much open space under the building.

So I am putting in plants and bushes so the setting looks more natural and filled in.

My guide for which plants to choose is "Tough Plants for Northern Gardens" by a chap named Felder Rushing.

Reasoning: Most books get you excited about a plant or shrub, and mention toward the end of the description that "this hardy specimen grows well in Texas and Louisiana."

This 2003 paperback only focuses on greenery that will do will in our chilly climate.

My credo for the moment is "plant anything that will grow quickly."

Thus one of the vines I have actually planted is bittersweet.

This "weed" drives real gardeners crazy.

But I am not proud.

I want vegetation now.

A principal challenge to my aspirations is shade.

The cabin is in the woods, which means that sunshine is limited to two to three hours per day.

So this spring I will be planting azalea, forsythia, hydrangea, lilacs and roses of sharon (since the cabin is in New Sharon).

Also, I will be putting in privat in part because the book had the following inspiring comment: "the only thing that can stop a snowplow is a privat hedge . . . plant them, and then run for your clippers."

I also want to plant potatoes, but don't know if they will grow because there is so much shade.

On the subject of phraseology, here is gardener's adage that I detest; "First year we sleep, second year we creep and third year we leap."

I am in the second year of serious planting - but I hope that by mid-summer there is some leaping going on!

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