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.

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

Today was so lovely - close to 70 degrees, and mostly sunny. I dealt with the long-neglected compost, and did a lot of pruning. And then I just took a close look at everything and when you look hard enough, you see a lot of signs of life! It gave me a very glowy happy feeling. This is why I love gardening.

This was yesterday

I am crossing my fingers that these foreground plants might be self-sown larkspurs. Or they're weeds. We'll see!

These new alliums are looking great. I am looking back at a photo from Sep. 14 last year, and I am hopeful that what's sprouting anew between them is a transplanted foxglove from the backyard.

These are the alliums transplanted from the back garden - they are looking splendid and already sending up buds!

Daffodils are starting to bloom; geraniums are starting to leaf out. Looking back at a photo from last year, I am surprised and sad to see that a lot of daffodils didn't come back.

I think I planted these daffodils new last fall. I think.

Oh, the magnolia! It is so very splendid, just starting to bloom.

What mystery plant are you, in the foreground?

While my other peony is going gangbusters (see below), I was looking in vain for signs that this one on the right side would come back, and finally there is a shoot! It did not do well last year and I'm not getting my hopes up this year, but at least it's coming back.

Gangbusters peony

Perennial tulips in their second year

The poppies look very promising, and with any luck, the tiny seedlings between them will be self-sown larkspurs 

Wider-view shot of the poppies, also Shasta daisies in foreground (and a onesie daffodil I am always meaning to transplant). And baptisia in background, not yet looking alive.

I am not positive, but I am thinking here that one of last year's allium is not coming up in the front right, and the other one has made itself into two plants.