I didn't realize until tonight...

...that the sweet "something" I was smelling recently were the light blue irises! I didn't know irises smelled so good!



The yellow don't really smell good at all, but they are stunning to look at!

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent a LOT of time gardening this past weekend. We ended up getting more New Guinea Impatiens for out front. We were debating whether or not to get them, and decided we probably wouldn't like it if we just left it plain. So we picked up a bunch of different ones and put them out there between the tulips like we usually do. They usually do well out there, so we hope they'll be big and healthy soon!



The "Steve" iris has started blooming! Thanks, Mom!



Bachelor button is blooming, too.



And even the new bleeding heart is getting in on the action! Lisa told me this weekend that she planted three bleeding hearts in a small space, and that they pushed everything out. Hmmm, I may need to move one of these to a different spot.



We decided to go with red dahlias and blue angelonia on either side of the fireplace again this year.



And who says money doesn't grow on trees? (Well, plants anyway.)

Annuals

I planted a bunch of annuals today. I think we're a little behind where we usually are this time of year. Usually we buy and plant annuals on Mother's Day weekend, but I think it rained that weekend this year? Anyway, I'm trying something new with pots out front. For the past two years we've just had the biggest pot on the whiskey barrel, but I thought I'd try something a little more interesting this year. Hopefully I've got a good balance of plants and good mixed heights in each pot!





In this hanging basket on either end are Black Pearl Peppers (kind of hard to see since they blend in with the soil), sweet potato vine and blue angelonia.



I forget what these are in the two hanging baskets in front of the fireplace. You can see the herbs (basil, sage, parsley, etc.) in the background.



We did some geraniums in the window box on the shed. I love the purple ones!



And these aren't annuals, but the light blue irises behind the yellow ones are blooming now. I'm pleased because I see four stalks with blooms on them that will be light blue, and last year we only had ONE blue bloom.



And the bleeding hearts are coming along nicely now, they're not white anymore! :-)



A woman the next street over from us has beautiful poppies, that every time we drove by I say to Steve "look at those poppies!" so we picked up a couple for ourselves today. They're not really doing anything right now, but when the bloom, I'll take a picture.

Lots of purple

The money plant / silver dollar plant is still going strong, and the rhododendrons are blooming, I'm amazed at how they are practically the same exact color!



And I am *so* excited that the irises are *finally* blooming! These blue and white ones we brought with us from Cold Spring. I did our landlord a favor and thinned her iris beds. :-)



These yellow ones were here when we bought the house. Mrs. Pampalone stopped by one day soon after we moved in and told us these were award winning irises, I should have asked her if *she* won the awards, or if just the plants did before she acquired them.



I wanted to show you the lily of the valley "patch" that came to us from my Mom's friend Barb. This is where I took the shots for Christa's birthday post.



This is something growing on the hill that was here when we moved in. Is this some kind of honeysuckle? It does smell sweet.





And again I'm thrilled with the silky dogwood growth. :-)

Happy Birthday to Christa!

Lily of the Valley always make me think of my sister - they are her birthday flower, and today is her birthday! Yay! :-)

Looking ahead

Soon we will have peonies, I can't wait! These were here when we bought the house. I really need to thin them out, maybe move a bunch out to the backyard where we can see them more easily.



This hydrangea is from Steve's Aunt Marilyn, who originally got it from Steves' Oma. I love that we have plants from family and friends. I'm not sure I could ever move, since we have so many meaningful things in our gardens now.

We have compost!

We started composting maybe three years ago, and last year we got a little bit, but this year we hit the compost jackpot! Well, okay, not a jackpot, but that big ole' pot is filled with compost we made. I spread it around some select plants in the perennial beds that I thought could use a little umpf. It's a good thing Steve isn't afraid of the critters that tend to hang out in the composter. Twice I have opened the top to find a snake curled up all cozy on top of the compost. Now I bang on the sides a bit and give whatever is in there a minute to get lost before I open the top.



It doesn't look like much now, but I decided to go with Bleeding Hearts and Columbine in that empty spot where we took out the allspice. How strange that the bleeding hearts are white! I'm assuming that's from being in a box too long while shipping? Steve asked me if I was sure that wasn't the root. Um, yeah, I'm sure! There's a little primrose in front, too, that has been there all along but never blooms. I'm hoping next year it will bloom and spread a bit like the others have now that it has sun.





I was VERY excited to see all this new growth on the silky dogwood! Yay! It might take 10 years, but I'm hopefuly it will grow big and strong again.



The azaleas out front have started blooming. It's pretty cool how we can see how much sun our yard gets. Everything on the west side of the front steps is just a little bit behind everything on the east side of the steps, because the east side gets more sun.

Wysteria Envy

Isn't this beautiful? It's our neighbor's. I wish it were ours, but at least we get to enjoy it by living right next door.



The chocolate peppermint is back in full force.



Driving home today I noticed that not 10 miles south of here there are rhododendrons and irises blooming, but ours aren't! Our irises do have some big buds on them, though, and I'm thinking maybe this weekend they'll open.

It's May!

This weekend, Sooz asked me what was blooming, so here's an update for you. There's not too, too much that's new in the past few days, but...

the creeping phlox is in bloom. I wish this would spread more.



The primrose are really looking great now. And looking back at the last post, I think they were a little droopy then from the frost/freeze, too.



We bought these chives, oh I don't know, three years ago? Each winter I leave them outside, and each spring they come back.



I didn't think I had bought hardy mums last fall, but it looks like two made it through the winter! I wish I knew what color they were...it doesn't say on the tags. In the background is sage I left out all winter, it looks like it may bounce back.



The azaleas on the east side of the house are in full bloom! Still waiting for the ones in front. (Yes, I need to deadhead the daffodils)

Brrrrrrrrrr!

Apparently the tulips in the back yard do not like 29 degrees at night:



The Japanese Maple leaves also look a little droopy, but other than that, I think everything fared okay in the freeze. Steve did cover the veggie beds with newspaper, and those look good, too.

Steve planted these adorable little tulips for us in the back. They are so absolutely lovely. I hope you can see the petals in the close up.




The rosebushes have new growth, yay! And there below them our Edelweiss is coming back, too. Steve picked that out a few years ago. :-)



The money plant (a.k.a. silver dollar plant) has started blooming out front. I'm going to be sure to sprinkle the seeds all behind the azaleas this year and see if we can really fill in out there with this.



Here is the primrose we planted, and there alongside of it you can see the Lily of the Valley that has spread to this area - it's May, so it should be blooming soon.



I know I posted a picture of this shrub before, but up close I love it. It's like standing in a cloud.