I ended up cutting my last gardening post short because I suddenly found myself standing in rather fertile swamp land!
Soggy bottom!
We've had an ongoing issue with drainage in the Laughing Dragon Garden, primarily due to the fact that the runoff patterns from up the hill from us have changed, due to new construction and people adding drainage systems of their own.
It's amazing how a new house foundation several hundred yards uphill from you can suddenly result in a dry area becoming perpetually soggy!
The drainage channel is overflowing!
Anyway, 
It's not a particularly pleasant task, involving sticking your arm into 40-degree muddy water almost up to your shoulder to remove the offending debris.
Amazingly, though, once the blockage was gone, the water level in the drainage channel dropped pretty much like emptying a bathtub!
The water level has dropped by 16 inches, and you can see the sandy bottom again!
The garden has now had a few days to drain, and today is another sunny day, so it seemed like a perfect time to complete the interrupted walkthrough.
We were even able to get the long winter grass mowed a bit!
This was not walkable — let alone mowable — a week ago!
Continuing on through the formerly soggy area, the first calendulas that wintered are starting to flower already! These are not from seed, but on mature plants from last year.
Part of the joy of a mild winter!
Calendula
Another winter survivor: we have a veritable forest of arugula (Also known as "rocket" in some parts of the world) which is very peppery due to the age of the plants... but still makes a lovely and very tasty addition to salads.
Of course, we will also be sowing a new crop, as soon as the threat of frost has passed.
Winter Arugula
We had a hydrangea that had gotten very sprawling and leggy, so we trimmed it way back, no certain whether it would survive, but now it is covered with fresh shoots... so it clearly didn't mind the "haircut" too much!
Hydrangea sprouting!
Our Japanese yellow rose is also setting flowers rather early this year. Like the hydrangea, this was also one we cut back quite a bit last year and we weren't sure how well it was going to fare. But there are buds everywhere and a few blooms already!
Several people have suggested that this is actually a "Lady Banks" rose, but I don't believe it is because it does not have a long runner growth, it just grows straight up in vertical vines.
Yellow Japanese Rose
The grape mahonias are setting buds. We actually have never planted a grape mahonia on our property and yet we have dozens of them, thanks to very industrious birds!
Grape Mahonia setting flowers
These lacy looking white flowers are a "star magnolia" and they always put on a beautiful show in late winter and early spring.
You do have to "shape" them a bit, otherwise they tend to get very sprawling and leggy.
Star Magnolias are starting to bloom!
These ornamental plums are definitely not my favorite plant, but they do have really showy and pretty flowers in spring.
The problem I have with them is that the flowering season is very short, and otherwise they are just a rather thorny and invasive species that propagate endlessly by sending out lots of horizontal root runners that result in single twigs suddenly shooting out of the ground in places you don't want!
First blossoms on the ornamental plums!
I'll leave you with another shot of blossoms on our old apricot tree, which has come a long way just since my last post, about 10 days ago!
The apricot tree has REALLY started flowering since the last post!
All in all, we're getting quite excited about the new growing season!
Next on the list will be cleaning up the raised beds and adding lots of "nutrition" and fertilizer to the rather depleted soil.
There's always something to do in the Laughing Dragon Garden!
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All photos are my own!