More Spring....

Overall, it still looks pretty dreary out there in my garden.  But there are a few plants that are bravely making their way and sharing their beauty.

The flowering plum is covered with blossoms.  It will get its purple leaves later.   That is a close-up of its blooms above.

It grows next to - way too close to - a holly that will bloom later.  The forsythia bush is also there.  Think how pretty this would all look if the forsythia was well pruned and in full bloom with periwinkle in full bloom beneath it.  And daffodils to boot.  There is always hope...

Speaking of daffodils... There are several different kinds of daffodils here and there in my yard.  None in abundance this year, though.  This beauty was looking down ~ maybe because it is raining.

The beautiful blue hyacinths are still blooming.

My daphne bushes don't look all that great; the winter has been hard on them.  But they are blooming.  They smell like heaven.  Daphne are notoriously difficult and short-lived so I am pleased to have had mine for so long.

It appeared as though maybe my variegated hydrangea hadn't made it through the winter.  But that is ~ thankfully ~ not the case.

And my rose bushes are starting to show their new leaves.   This is New Dawn, my climbing rose.

Such charming muscari...   I love this picture.

A pot full of Johnnies on the corner of my deck. 

Oh, wonderful, unabashedly cheerful Johnnies.

Have a beautiful day!

Spring!!!

Spring officially arrived earlier this week.  On Thursday, March 20th, to be more specific.  At 12:58 in the afternoon, to be exact.  And, so far, the weather has co-operated and been pleasantly mild since Spring began.  It's been a tough winter here this year.  I can tell my plants have suffered.  Some may not make it.  And others show damage from the cold.

My forsythia has blooms on it.  The harbinger of Spring.  The plant itself looks pretty sad, but at least there are some clusters of bright yellow.

Every year I tell myself that I am going to transplant the periwinkle so it will grow under the forsythia.  They bloom about the same time and the blue and yellow together would be so charming.   Maybe this is the year...

My camellia bush is blooming.  I hate to say things like this, but it doesn't really look very good.  The fungus that attacks camellias is having a heyday with my bush.   This flower looks okay, though.  I have fond memories of picking camellias when I was a little girl.

My blue hyacinths smell so good!  And, of course, the color is incredible!  I love having them in my garden.

Some of my muscaris are are blooming.   They aren't doing well this year.  I don't know if part of it has to do with the wicked winter.  I do know part of it has to do with the deer.   My neighbor doesn't have his dog any more and the deer have decided that my garden is a lovely place to eat.  And, guess what...  They seem to really like my muscaris.  If you look, you can see the chomped leaves.

I bought this hellebore as a tiny seedling at a Cooperative Extension garden sale probably about five years ago.   This is the first year it has bloomed!  I'm so excited!  I love the pale pink and pale green tints in it.   Several weeks ago, the deer had eaten its leaves, but thankfully they haven't discovered the flower yet.  And I think there is another bud on it, too.

Have a beautiful day!

Beautiful blues...

Some days are just long and a bit too much. Today was one of those days. It wasn't a bad day. Nothing terrible happened. It has just been a long day.



So it was such a balm to pull into the driveway and see the soothing beauty of cheerful Johnnies and bright yellow daffodils and gorgeous blue Hyacinths and Muscari.



Their wonderful fragrance only added to the serenity.



I hope they bring a bit of cheer to your day, too.



Have a beautiful day!

An exciting discovery...

There are so many new things in my garden. New leaves. New buds. New flowers. It is wonderful that so much is happening once again. And, of course, I am finding more and more things that need to be done. Pruning, feeding, mulching, transplanting. I am even contemplating almost completely redoing one of my flower beds. And I haven't even started on the vegetable garden yet.




I found that my camellia has bloomed at last. She is so pretty. She reminds me of picking camellias for flower arrangements when I was growing up. But my most exciting discovery of the day is hidden amongst the leaves of my grape hyacinth bulbs. Look what I found:


Have a beautiful day!

Purple rain...

For the fall, winter, and spring, I planted this urn with Purple Rain pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) that I purchased from my favorite local nursery, New Garden Nursery. They are supposed to grow so that they will cascade over the edges of the pot, which I think will be quite charming. I have planted grape hyacinth (Muscari, probably armeniacum) with them because I like the contrast of its leaves. And then, of course, in the spring, there will be the beautiful, fragrant blue flowers to enjoy with the purple and yellow pansies.





I bought the urn at a big box store a couple of years ago. It is made of that strange, sorta foamy stuff and was scraped and scratched in places. So, I mixed some paint to be close to the color of the pot and painted the areas that were wearing out and then coated that with polyurethane once the paint had dried.




It all looks so beautiful on top of my "stone" wall, next to the house. It makes part of an ending point for the intersection of the path and the steps that come from the deck and back door.



Have a beautiful day!