I made this seed bed...

A week ago Emma and I transplanted what was left of our mini-greenhouse seedlings (none of which looked too robust; I would say we waited too long), and I threw a lot of random seeds into the garden just because a moment was here and would pass and they'd never get planted if I didn't take immediate action. I remember foxglove and poppy and pepper and sweet pea seeds but was overall just not worrying about documentation. Sometimes you just have to see what happens, because you don't have time for careful plotting and recording.

But now I spend some time every day staring at the ground and wishing things would appear, and I'm fuzzy about what I'm expecting. There's a lot of green stuff sprouting, but who knows whether they are weeds or seedlings? I made this (seed) bed; now I must lie in it.

In other news:

Perennial tulips wide awake on Apr 23

Perennials tulips waking up on Apr 25

This is actually the first time I have spotted a rabbit on my property, remarkably, even though I have occasionally seen them elsewhere in the neighborhood. Just another critter to eat my beloved plants. Sigh.

A more welcome creature: mourning dove with fluffed feathers. Note the allium getting taller on April 28

Last year, I got a free pot, and when I emptied the soil, I found mystery bulbs. So I threw the bulbs in other pots just to see what would happen, and two of the pots sprouted these things. Lilies? Random weeds not from the bulbs at all?

If you look at the photo below, you'll see our azalea being glorious in front of the house, but my new favorite part of it is this random branch that has grown back through the other shrubs toward the house, such that I can see it from the front window, though not from anywhere else. Lovely!

May 1

What the heck made this huge hole on the right side of the front garden? Was it something burrowing, or just a deer stepping into a soft spot?

Poor dianthus

Lilac, obviously, but also transplanted Shasta daisies on the left, in front of hydrangea. The daisies have been getting a little uppity on the left side of the garden.

In front of the street number sign, there used to be a thriving anemone - now it is just sending up a very few tiny leaves. Will it recover? Close-up below. Interestingly, this was the anemone that replaced the one that didn't make it after the first winter when we redid this front garden.

I think this shrub is pretty, in front of 14 Brookside Dr., in Maplewood, on May 2

Another view

I passed these pots in the city on May 3. Love the Columbine.

The cherry tree blossoms are now more on the ground than the branches, like a fluffy pink carpet surrounding each tree. This is in front of the library.

Endless enchantments of spring

Every time I walk outside I see exciting progress among the plants, and the temptation is there to photograph everything. So I do!

I could not possibly be more delighted that the allium in the back plot is now two alliums, both with buds.

The foxgloves in the back plot are looking very robust, and you can see also the other things looking good in the back (left to right: forget-me-nots, artemisia, lungwort, aster, the small white allium).

Our cherry tree has always been a little half-assed, but nonetheless, its blooms are appreciated.

The two-year-old daffodils in the back didn't all do so well this year - especially the frilly stinky ones. Maybe because of the weather.

These look good, though! I really need to get rid of the last of the leaves. They are all piled in corners like this.

As the early daffodils on the right are spent, the ones on the left are in their prime, though not so great this year.

I should have captured these a week or so ago at their peak, but they did well. The little ones. None of the grape hyacinth  made it though - deer?

See the red peony shoot in the front! I thought it had perhaps been uprooted or simply didn't survive, but I am so pleased to be wrong.

This is the lavender I cut all the leaves on in the fall, wondering whether it was better to leave them or cut them. The one one which I left them is below, on the top right of the photo. I am still not sure what was the better course of action.

I like this little spot in the front, with the stones and all the different colors and textures of plant, all very close together. Want to replicate this everywhere.

The poppies! I am so proud of the poppies! Also the onesie daffodil in back that really needs to be dug up and propagated (scooped/scored/scaled) because a onesie is ridiculous,

Front left

Front right

Emma and I transplanted the zinnias, cornflowers, and gypsophila today.