Bouquet

Just a few peonies, roses and a stem of the japanese lilac. So fragrant! 

Spring rains

We have had plenty of rain this spring and the gardens are awash in color. Pink peonies,

pink roses and purple catmint,

and japanese lilacs.

Here is a larger view of the border, with purple sage, pink peonies, pink roses and the lavender catmint. See the bluebird house? We have some baby bluebirds this year and the parents have been busy bringing bugs to the little ones.

One of my William Baffin roses, blooming its heart out!

Siberian Iris

This is Caeser's Brother siberian iris in bloom. The flowers are such a deep purple. 

And the weeping pea shrub is growing and looking much better.

Hawthorn

I moved this Hawthorn to the pond area last spring. While it is lovely in bloom, it is also quite stinky, as the blossoms give off a scent similar to rotting flesh. (Yuck!) It is starting to take the broad shape that I love in trees. Hawthorns can suffer from a variety of diseases - glad this one is doing so well.

Irises

These irises are tucked next to the dry stream bed.

And here's another view. 

 I have three groups of irises in the front garden, circled in orange in this picture.  I divided the group on the left side last fall and wondered why the irises were so small. Figured out that a mole had been tunneling under them! (That mole also tunneled under the baby's breath plants in my rose garden and killed them.) I pushed them back down into the soil and they are doing better, but there won't be any flowers this year. This fall, I need to divide the two groups on the right side.

Peonies

I didn't realize this yellow peony has a pink cast in the center - it is so pretty!

My itoh peony is just starting to open!  Love the foliage of these types of peonies. 

These bright pink buds are ready to pop! These are Paula Fay. I highly recommend the "landscape - type" peonies - no cages or supports needed! 

Weekend Project

This project is was not on my list for this summer, but it just had to be done. I planted Pink Dragon sedum in the area between the front garden and driveway. It is a ground cover, and for a few years, it did the job of holding down the weeds pretty well. But over the last couple of years, it has gotten so thick that it is difficult - no, almost impossible - to weed. You can see there are a couple of hardy geraniums that have taken root in it as well as all sorts of grass.

Here is the section closest to the house with the sedum removed. Yes, there is brick under that sedum!  Looks much better, doesn't it?  Some of the sedum I removed will be tucked into the boulder retaining wall and around the flagstone near the pond.