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.

Postings can't keep up with sproutings and bloomings

Our rocky spring has had its effect on some plants - the magnolia tree just didn't even bloom this year, for example. But a lot of rain in the past couple weeks has sent everything growing everywhere. I mowed the lawn for the first time around April 13, and it already really needed it. I really can't keep up with documenting everything.

I used my own compost for the very first time yesterday! I just pulled a little bit out of the bottom but the pile really needs some love - I should pull out the ready stuff and then mix the rest, which is currently a home for a large number of tiny flies, on account of I've been very diligent about sticking leftover produce on it lately.

Not sure why, but this April hasn't had as many migrating birds passing through the bush outside our solarium as usual. I did, however, spot what I am 95% sure was a ruby-crowned kinglet a couple weeks ago. I tried to take pictures, and when I looked at them afterward, all I could see was bushes, and I even knew where I was supposed to be looking. I know, I know, you are so shocked, because usually I get such clear pictures of birds. Snort.

April 13: 2015 daffodils returning

April 13: 2015 daffodils

April 13: 2016 daffodils and grape hyacinths

April 13: 2016 daffodil and grape hyacinth plantings

April 13: 2015 daffodil plantings on the left, 2016 on the right

April 13: The landscaping installed in the front last year is coming back nicely, though heaven only knows what these things are

April 13, front yard

April 13

April 13: lungwort in back plot

April 13: the 2016 tulip planting came up nicely! 2015, not at all.

April 16: Easter! Showcasing my bird's nest cupcake creations in front of my lovely springy tulips

April 17: This is not my bush (it's in Maplewood), but it's beautiful! What on earth is it?

Mystery bush close-up

April 18: viburnum blooming in front yard

April 18: viburnum and phlox

April 19: front landscaping

April 19

April 19: can't wait for the mini-lilac to bloom

April 26: this is not one of the tulips I ever planted! It was the only one of its kind that came up. Delightful.

Here you can see where the Lone Tulip lives, on the left as you're facing the front of the house

April 28: Funny story about the seeds in the mini-greenhouses I planted early last month. At one point I took the lids off and then didn't pay attention when I put the lids back on - so my six containers and six lids got mixed up. And where had I marked the identity of my plants? On the lids. Oops. In any case, at one point the mini-greenhouses were sitting in a pool of rainwater and so three of them never sprouted seedlings. But two types came up healthily (and one gave a few meager sprouts). Of the healthy ones, one is clearly parsley. But this is the other one - what the heck is it?! Deduction leads me to think either mini bell pepper, or sage. Time will tell, I guess.

April 28: I transplanted both the parsley (pictured here) and the mystery seedlings to the front, to the left of the front door as you're facing it.

April 28: The mystery seedlings (and look at the gorgeous phlox!)

April 28: this was a nice surprise - some of last year's thyme came back in the front!