Easter = Spring

Happy Easter! I am enchanted by all things spring in my neighborhood right now. The grass is so green you would think it is not real, and trees are starting to explode in leaves.

As you are facing the house, this is on the left, but I'm looking down the hill at the three new allium I planted in fall, plus the foxgloves and anemones returning for action.

This is a previously planted allium but what's interesting is that behind it, there is a single stalk of an allium that did come up and bloom last year - but it has no leaves this year. Wonder what happened, and will it bloom?

Apparently I should have pruned the baptisia to the ground last year. Must get on it now!

The backyard hydrangea starting to leaf, and the ever-reliable bleeding heart, which will probably perish when work begins on the yard.

Daffodils close to the house.

Daffodils along the back wall of the back yard, planted my first year in the house and returning strong! Not all of them did so.

These may be the only hens and chicks that survived the winter.

I am still hoping these are self-sown Larkspur in the foreground - also note the healthy-looking allium transplanted from the back yard!

Hydrangea and mystery weeds.

Remember I was worried this peony wouldn't come back? Wonder if it will bloom this year, unlike last year?

Lilac is preparing to bloom

Glorious lungwort in the back plot, about to be displaced with our planned yard work.

This phlox patch grows every year, to my delight

Robust poppies, but not sending up any flower stems yet

These very little purple-flowered weeds (a violet variety, perhaps?) are scattered around the back yard and we like them

This is one site of the seedlings we transplanted earlier this month from our mini-greenhouses. Frankly they were too little to transplant but the timing of our vacation last week was such that I thought we might as well stick them in the ground and see what happened. I bet a few of them will make it.

Another seedling site

The foot of one of the back yard trees. I like this scene. Kind of fairy-friendly.

The perennial tulips are returning!

The viburnum is blooming beautifully. Both bushes.

Garden happenings

Things have been veritably shooting up out of the ground lately, aided by vast amounts of both rain and sun. I mowed the back yard for the first time on April 30, and it was already very tall (and is in desperate need of another mow). The Ramos team finally mowed our front yard for the first time on May 8, seriously overdue.

Yesterday I bought $45 worth of herbs, anemone, and creeping phlox at the Maplewood Garden Club plant sale but have not yet put them in the ground.

The baptisia was starting to bud on May 1 and has actually grown a lot in the 10 days since then

The bleeding heart started blooming around May 1 (date of this photo) and is still blooming

This is my new peony on May 1, the one I thought wasn't going to appear. It's a lot smaller than my established peony but nonetheless wonderful.

Viburnum and creeping phlox on May 1

Tulips on May 3. Very pleased with these perennial tulips; I hope they really do return.

May 4. Daffodils at their peak.

May 4

May 4

I finally got the remaining seedlings from the mini-greenhouses into the ground. From left to right, I put in Larkspur, allium, and foxgloves (which had really tiny seedlings - prob better to direct sow). I also put in the pepper seedlings in a spot closer to the house, between Emma's other plantings.

Sweet peas on May 4. I am delighted with these - they look so healthy and eager to climb!

The pepper seedlings went into the middle between Emma's patches of flowers, on May 4.

Tulips on May 4. They probably peaked around May 7ish. Lovely.

This and all below are from today

The cherry blossoms blew across the street from a neighbor's house!

Annuals as far as the eye can see

I bought more annuals, having felt that I was in need of portulaca and basil. I got them at the Maplewood Garden Club's annual sale, which was fine - nice people, of course, and decent selection, and for a good cause, but I do prefer a big nursery like Williams.

I should probably be buying more perennials for the front but I will always need herbs, and I have a love of portulaca and brachyscome and (even though I did not actually purchase it) lantana, so it's hard to resist.

So everything is in the ground now save that I ordered three digitalis grandiflora (yellow foxglove) for the back plot that haven't arrived yet.

This is one of the plots in the back and I am realizing as I look at the photo of it that it looks bad. Left to right: struggling azalea in a shade I don't like, tiny new hydrangea that you can't really see, big hydrangea that has had a weak show of flowers the past two years, and bleeding heart, which is probably the only winner here. Still, at some point we'll redo the patio so there's no point in fixing this spot now.

I don't ever take pics of the azaleas in the back but they are very nice when viewed from the solarium. (These pics, of course, are from outside)

Here's the stuff I added in front. The brachyscome (foreground) I planted last week; the spiky thing is actually crocuses. Then I added basil and portulaca and you can't really see that I put the begonias left over from the back in that spot too, around the phlox. Side note: the Spanish bluebells in the back have been great long-lasting performers this year.

More portulaca, to the right of the steps as you're facing the front door. I'm hoping they'll grow to peek out from under the bushes.

Portulaca behind the verbena that I wish was lantana.

Garden happenings

The wormwood has spread out nicely, although it's got some yellow parts underneath. Hmmm. The thing next to it with purple flowers, brachyscome, is also doing great. Two winners.

Most of the flowers did not spread out as much as I'd hoped, so the lesson is to plant more of them, spaced closer together, next year. Still, the begonias are doing great, and the geraniums are doing well. The stock has petered out. I'm not sure whether it was being eaten, or it just didn't thrive. I'll avoid that next year.

In the back, I think these were going to be purple coneflowers - four of them. I think it is deer that have basically kept them munched low to the ground, and then I spotted this beetle on them too.

This bud was cruelly chewed off the very night after I took this picture. It was literally nipped in the bud.

The hydrangea is a little anemic, but still it's nice to see some blooms. I panicked a little when the bleeding heart turned yellow but then read that that's normal and you just cut it down.

This is the front where all the ground cover was pulled out. If I ever get my act together, it's going to be a rock garden. I plan to put the rocks and soil down this year and wait to plant until next year. Meanwhile I'm waiting for Frank's Tree Service to pull down the dead tree.

The view up the walk:

The lantana has done very nicely. Must get more for next year. The lavender bloomed and now the blooms just look dead. I thought they would keep blooming? I am not pleased.

The moss roses/portulaca have been a great success and I just wish I had more.

Not pictured, some bug has completely razed the mint that was growing wildly in a pot. My basil also came under attack (from a caterpillar, I believe) but is now looking reasonably good again - I think the caterpillar became moths or butterflies or something.

Last note: I have decided I don't like the gazanias, though they are doing well. Too spiky and garish colors.