MAY GOES OUT WITH A BANG

so many flowers, so little time... magnolia sieboldii colossus has been blooming for a while...

the japanese square garden is at peak with baptisia, dianthus, euphorbia, prostrate baby's breath, bloodgrass and iris...

the dogs pose together in front of the potager...

i planted some marigolds i bought yesterday to speed along the colors...

and i couldn't resist this lantana 'patriot desert sunset.'  i'd like to know the difference between a patriotic sunset and a non-patriotic one.  the flower is certainly not red, white and blue.  go figure: a pretty plant with a silly name.

last weekend i rebuilt the forest garden's path and it's still sandy...

the mountain laurel 'pinwheel' is glorious today...

the wild, wooly, north garden (help, it's drowning in invasive plants!!!)

can you find the firecracker flower in the above photo?  kind of lost in the sauce, i think...

here's the rabbit hole in the north garden, from which the dogs excavated the bunny inhabitants.  i'm glad i missed the action.  i was surprised at how shallow the hole is, after reading "alice in wonderland."

white and pink deutzia buds about to open.

white siberian iris...

a dark allium... what a glorious weekend to garden!

NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE

i worked feverishly in the garden today, to make a small impact on my last day off.  tomorrow, it's back to the office grindstone!  my sympathies to those who have to go back to work, and to those who want jobs, but do not have them.  one joy: lookie!  this is my first sugar snap pea bloom, ever!  it reminds me of an elephant!

the rainbow chard is really bright in the sun... almost ready to pick the first leaves...

the siberian iris are blooming, this one in front of baptisia (false indigo)...

this is the entrance to the potager, with much blooming (rhodie, amsonia, weigelia and gaillardia)...

a close up of the white peony reveals many colors...

new growth on umbrella pine (sciadopitys verticillata)...

pink peony among the grasses...

nectaroscordium in front of blue hosta...

POTAGER UPDATE, MEMORIAL DAY

but first, a snoopy update! here he is enjoying the deck, drinking from the bird bath.

the potager:

i'm so please with the entrance garden! everything is pretty much up now, though the cool may postponed germination of many things. we have a surfeit of lettuce, the rainbow chard is almost ready, but nothing else yet. so far, the only critters sharing the garden are the bugs!

COLUMBINES ATTACK!

one of the nice things about columbines is how they self-sow all over. but first, immature blueberries, for yolanda elizabet of bliss...

mixed columbine of 'nora barlow' type

'nora barlow' columbines, red and blue

the white columbine mom gave me for mother's day. thanks, mom!

another mixed columbine that has sprung forth

the halesia carolina 'silverbell' tree, last week

camassia

POTAGER UPDATE

first, a little 'fanfare' (gallardia, that is...)

ok, now i've tooted my own horn, here is the potager, and i've included the little new entrance garden i've been making. 'fanfare' is at lower left. ok, Heather at Small Goat Garden has recommended a great way to edge, but i've been working too hard to get to it... the tree on the left is the large leaved magnolia from my brother, the blooming pink shrub is weigelia, blue blooms are amsonia. the lettuce and sugar snaps in the center of the potager are doing great, but other veggies have been slow due to the cool may. yes, call me irresponsible, but my tomatoes are in, at right.

here's the south front garden, with the broom in all its glory, alongside blue bells and dwarf deutzia, also from my brother. the large shrub at right is the 'harry lauder walking stick.'

SPRING FRACTALS

here are plants with a fractal form, in which the whole is duplicated by many approximately identical smaller parts.... like these weeds growing between bricks...

japanese maple...

maidenhair fern...

gaillardia 'fanfare' bud...

japanese painted fern...

larch (well, maybe not so much)

deutzia buds...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY @ GF

tree peony close-up

joe joe by the dwarf apple espalier, with camassia, at south side of house

garden visitor, a garter snake (as a reference, pavers are 4 x 8)

our dogwood in front of neighbor's red maple

viburnum

woodland garden at the front of the house

the wild, wooly, needs-weeding north garden

MAY - GETTING SICK OF FLOWERS YET?

no way, right?!? never! here's a tree peony unfurling...white cercis (redbud) blooming agains river birch bark...
dogwood doing it's thing... pink and purple trees are a bit whimsical, yes?
in the woodland garden, epimedium bandit
and omphalodes...
strawberry 'lipstick'...
the fothergillia my brother gave me finally bloomed!
close up of white cercis... this is what i love about it, the flowers springing from the bark!
here's cercis in the north garden...
the new garden at the front of our house needs more plants; note deer damage to the yews.
watering the emerging potager...
luna hangs out by the square garden...
joe joe poses at the south side of the house.  i removed two languishing hollies from in front of the unsightly retaining wall, and put a white lilac there.