A quote from Rachel Carson

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

Pink Peonies

These peonies were given to me by my dear friend, Lynn. I thought they were all the same, but actually, there are at least two different varieties, and possibly, three.  I like to put them in water and keep them in the garage for a bit before bringing them in - gives the ants and spiders a chance to crawl away.

The weather forecast is for two or more inches of rain tonight, so I wanted to be sure to rescue a few of the open flowers! 

Trial run

I took the cherry tree out of this corner and moved it to the Fairy garden. That left a big gap in this corner.  This planter provides some nice height, so I'll fill it with annuals and give it a trial run this summer.  I'll post pictures when it is fully dressed - it looks pretty naked now!

Varigated honeysuckle

I thought this vine died - it looked so pathetic after its first winter.  Last summer it looked a little better and now - wow!  Covered in pretty pink blooms.

Border in Bloom

This is a new border, planted last fall.  You can see the prairie smoke flower in the lower picture  - it is still looking good! There is Karl Forester grass against the house

Rose Planter

This lovely Double Pink Knockout rose tree was a Mother's Day gift from my hubby.  I added some coral bells, dusty miller and dahlberg daisies to the planter. 

Monochromatic Planting

I usually mix colors in my planters, but this year decided to do all pink!  There is a grass that will get taller that has pink blooms, another pink bloomer that I don't remember the name of and some pink trailing petunias.  Planters never look great when you plant them, but as they grow, the plants mingle and they take on their own personalities.  I'll take pictures when this planter looks better.

Poor maple tree...

This poor maple tree is suffering from either anthracnose or scorch.  I think it may be scorch, as we had temps in the 90's and high winds last week.  Either way, the treatment is to keep it watered and fed and hopefully, next year it will be better.  I'll be keeping my fingers crossed! The other two maples in the same area of the yard look fine. 

Edging the Front Border

Finally, beautiful weather on the weekend!  I got busy taking out more grass!  I didn't like the edge of this border, so I changed it.

When I originally created this, I was thinking that I wanted to incorporate a circular border around the apple tree in the overall border.  I've drawn the original border in white and you can see it wasn't as effective as the new border.  There was a little curve in and it just didn't make sense.

The new border is much better - easier to mow and your eye follows the edge much easier.  Now, what do I plant in this space?

Tina Crabapple

The Louisa crabapple that I had in this spot didn't make it - and it probably would have grown too wide for this spot.  So I replaced it with a Tina crabapple.  Isn't she pretty?