I admit things were looking a little bleak two months ago when I planted all these winter weary plants. But now! We have been fortunate to have a couple of days of warm weather following some really wet weeks. The rununculous that I showed last time just got pulled out of the ground. It is a spring annual whose time has come and gone. The same with some of the daisy looking plants. We had a couple of cold nights and they never recovered. I noticed they quit selling them at Home Depot, so I probably got the last ones. I will say that the larger purple version is still holding its own. This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. Things are looking even more lush and lovely today.
I am thrilled to share that I will have iris blooms this year. Not all the plants around the yard have buds, but all those in the bed closest to the house have buds. Those under the Vine Maple and Wisteria are just greens, so I may move them in the fall.
The clematis is growing like mad. The tendrills have grown almost to the top of the trellis. I don't know if I will get flowers on it this year, but since we thought it was dead over the winter, this is very exciting to me. At the base of the trellis is a delphinium that I planted last summer. It was not spectacular if I recall and I had forgotten about them. But, the two I planted are growing nicely and should bloom soon. I planted one a few months back that had blooms on it already and it looks a little worse for wear. I dead headed it and now it looks haggard. But if all goes well, it will come back next year looking better than ever. I am uncertain how long these plants last. I did read recently that Columbine only lives a couple of years. Look at these beauties. Again, last year, they didn't do much but get a little bigger.
There is a cream colored one not shown in this picture that is gorgeous. I had bought a bunch from our local gymnastic club last year and was disappointed how small they were. But this year, the colors are fabulous. I have others growing nearby that are small, but I will leave them alone to see what will come of them.
Look at these beauties. This is the first blooming. There should be one more once the leaves come out. I guess the pruning suggestion that I followed was right on. The smell wafts in through the window. It isn't as strong as it has been before, so I wonder if the smell will be stronger with the second blooming. It is still wonderful though.
Everything looks so healthy. The birds are in short supply at the moment, but there may be a reason for that. The Evening Grosbeaks are here. They come is such large numbers that I feel they tend to run off other birds. But they are keeping to the feeder in the back yard. The Pine Siskins seems to be gone finally. There were so many sick ones that it was a little gross. But the rest? I am presuming the chickadees and nuthatches and juncos are all sitting on their nests somewhere else. We do have a number of hummingbirds that are visiting regularly. I am a little embarrassed to say that I have 6 hummingbird feeders in the yard. Hopefully with the plants and the feeders, we will have loads of birds, but so far, we have maybe 4 or 5. One little female runs everyone else off, so I have moved the feeders around the yard in hopes of outsmarting her.
This blog is about the front yard primarily, but I am happy to share that my veggie garden is planted and growing. We were a little delayed because of time, so I was concerned I wouldn't get one at all this year. But my husband is helping me with it and everything is planted. We still have loads to do in the back and the front, but nothing is ever finished, so it feels ok to be where we are.
