Front border - East side

I trimmed all of the dead branches out of these Snowmound  spireas earlier this spring. They were in full bloom on June 4, along with the purple Walker's Low nepeta.

Transition

This little garden helps the front garden wrap around the side of the house and down the hill to the back yard. I spent part of the day on May 30th weeding it. The little North Star cherry is finally beginning to look good. The bottom picture was taken on June 4. Note the Fairy Princess peony in bloom!  

This is the east side of a circular patch of grass that I call the secret garden. You can sit on that little bench and disappear from the world. 

Keeping Guard

I removed a couple of cotoneaster shrubs from the border that tended to day back in the winter. It seemed as though every spring I was cutting out half the shrub - winter kill. I replaced them with some weigelas - the one in front is Sonic bloom pink and the two I planted are Rainbow Sensation, which have a pretty variegated leaf. While I was working, this barn swallow was keeping an eye on me. Pretty sure there was a nest full of eggs in the birdhouse.

Pond Irises

May 30, 2016. The irises in the pond are in full bloom. There are native blue and yellow in the bog area and along the stream are Siberian iris - Caesar's Brother.  Irises have the ability to remove pollutants from water - even heavy metals. Planting them along the edge of a drainage pond would help keep lawn fertilizer from seeping into the water.

Baptista offspring

This yellow Baptista is a volunteer - it sprouted from the seed of the Starlite Prairieblues Baptista, (behind the yellow one in the photo) which was the second hybrid  Baptista to be bred. I plan to move this guy to the back yard, where there will be room for him. A mature plant is about 6 feet across.

Bridal veil spirea

My love affair with this plant began years ago.  It was 2003 and I was working at a garden center. Stocking shrubs was one of the many tasks that filled my hours at work and one day I was putting the bridal veil spireas into their spot. One of the tiny shrubs already was showing the arched form of a mature shrub and I told it that it was beautiful. Luckily, no one was around to hear me talking to a tiny shrub! Their blossoms only last a short time, but truly a beautiful spring show.

Yellow peonies!

May 21, 2016. Yellow peonies in bloom! These plants are pretty young and yet they managed to provide a few lovely blooms.  Love them because they are yello & also because they don't need to be caged. 

As you can tell by the date, I'm a little behind in my posts. Very hot & sticky today, with storms brewing, so a good time to catch up!

Garden Plan

My vegetable garden is four quarter circle spaces. Every spring, I sketch out where I'll plant the tomatoes, carrots, beans, peppers, lettuce & everything else that needs to fit in the space.  I move the tomatoes to a different  section each year to help avoid disease.  I always plant marigolds around the edges, because they make me happy.

My garden is in! The rain that is in the forecast for today will help it grow -

Ready to plant!

Last weekend, our temps got down to 29 degrees. Each day, I have discovered more frost damage - trees and perennials with blackened leaves. Most of them should be OK, I can just give them a trim, but it is so sad to see. Luckily, I have been too busy to plant any annuals or my vegetable garden. Hope to get that done this weekend. Ordered some seeds from Italy - climbing zucchini, arugula, and chicory. Excited to see how they do!

Pruning

I did a lot of pruning last fall and late this winter.  My hydrangeas (top picture) look horrible, as do my Tor spireas. The Goldmound spireas look great. I am hoping the hydrangeas and Tors look better later in the season. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Blackhaw Viburnum

This small tree is blooming for the first time. Every review I've seen for the Blackhaw Viburnum raves about what a lovely specimen it is. I'm happy that it is finally showing its beauty. My granddaughters' fairy garden makes it even more magical!

Redbud!

Found some cool heron statutes and placed them under the redbud, which is near the pond. The shrubs with the white flowers are Autumn Magic Chokecherries. 

Pond Leak

When we fired up the waterfall a few weeks ago, we noticed that we were losing water. So we turned it off and tried to figure out what the problem was. We thought there might be a leak in the pipe that brings the water to the top of the falls. Jake, our pond guy stopped by one night to take a look and did a bit of digging near the pipe. Next morning, I found that the area near the top of the falls was very wet. Did some more digging and found a mouse had chewed a hole in the liner. You can see the exposed liner in the top photo. I patched the hole and it is holding water. Next fall, I think I will shove some fabric softener sheets in between some of the rocks to keep the mice out.

Edged & Mulched

Q

Both front borders done! I took some much needed vacation time & spent my days out in the sun.

Creeping Phlox

This splash of pink phlox looks so good! It has been blooming for weeks. I love the striped one. Please ignore the weeds.

A Bunny for Deb

Four years ago, I lost my best friend, my sister, Deb. She was the reason I started this blog. She loved bunnies and I found this rabbit for a special spot near the pond. I think she would love it❤️

Tulips

May 5th.  Have you ever checked the inside of a tulip? Lovely color and pattern that you can only see from above - a bird's eye view.

Fern leaved Peony

May 5th. This little guy blooms his heart out for a couple of days. Seeing these bright flowers makes you believe that spring is truly here.

Pasqueflower

These were blooming April 16th. We have had a very up and down kind of spring - talking about the temperature. In late March, we had some nice warm days & I did a lot of pruning of trees & shrubs. The trees are looking good - some shrubs are doing OK, others look, well.....all I can say is, it'll grow, right?