It is early in the growing season but some of our flowers are blooming and plants are thriving, especially after that good downpour of rain yesterday.
One of our earliest bloomers is spurge. This is what it looked like couple of weeks ago.
This is what it is looking like this morning.
We were given this dark red peony a few years back. It hasn't really bushed out but Skip did transplant an offshoot of it in another part of the garden. It is always our earliest peony to bloom. The transplanted one has two, nice buds on it - surprising that it is blooming so soon after transplanting as peonies can be stubborn to bloom.
We have a couple of areas with Siberian iris. This is the only one in bloom so far but there are lots of buds. The cool weather yesterday and today has put a pause on a lot of the progress.
The solomon seal spreads out so much and gets so tall, Skip likes to hold them back with cages so they don't encroach too much on neighbouring plants.
Under the south-facing dining room window is a heuchera (coral bells) given to me about 15 years ago by a former colleague, Anne Marie. It doesn't really spread but is a reliable grower and bloomer every year.
These peonies are very bushy and have many buds. They'll bloom in a week or so and will be the softest, pale pink colour. We have another kind on the east side of the yard that have the most fragrant blooms.
Some milkweed is starting to grow beside the deck. Monarchs lay eggs on them and I use the leaves to feed the larvae all summer.
The echinacea will grow to about a metre in height. I have a photo of them almost at the height of the deck rail at our wedding here in 1998.
Skip loves bugle weed (ajuga ajuga). This bunch escaped the garden and has spread into the lawn. I mowed about half of it down, keeping the rest intact.
Another area where we allow milkweed to grow freely is around our gas meter. This is where I first discovered monarch butterfly larvae many years ago. We do have to pull out little milkweed plants as they pop up in other areas of the garden.
On the east side of the house and just outside the back door from the laundry room is my trusty clothesline. I love this thing and can get three loads of laundry on it at one time. On sunny days, the clothes dry as quickly as if they'd been put in the dryer. Skip and I both love the fresh smell.
We don't have a huge garden and it's not very aesthetically laid out, but we do have a lot of perennials and we're planting the veggies and flowers over the next couple of weeks. As Skip gets better and better he will be able to do more work out there.
It is so nice to be able to sit out now. Although we're in a suburban neighbourhood and can hear all the activities in the adjoining yards, it is our 'little piece of heaven' and know we are lucky to have a lot this wide (60-ish feet).
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