Welcome to the lush green that is the Northeast right now with all the wet weather! Lots of plants are very happy with all the rain.

Some plants got a little battered, like my peonies:

You can see the cage peeking through the plant. The whole thing would have flopped to the ground if I didn’t have the cage in there.

Foxgloves. Candy Mountain

The snapdragons are proliferating like crazy. I’ve said in the past that I buy snapdragons once and then I have them forever because I deadhead them right into the garden. I will toss some seed heads all around, too.

These are all from the plants I bought back in 2015.

I may actually have to thin some out. They are one of my favorite flowers.

This is the Calycanthus bush, Aphrodite:

When you get a baby plant, the saying is the first year they sleep, the second year they creep and the third year they leap. Here was 2015 when this was just a baby plant:

Look how dark all that mulch is, too.  The Caly will grow all summer and I will be pruning it more than I did last year to keep it under control.  The blooms are fragrant and kind of smell like apples.

The roses are all starting to show off now.  I have 2 David Austin roses. One is Othello, which I bought last year. The blooms are very short lived. Here is a bloom open:

Two days later:

They still look pretty, though.

Also Fair Bianca, my white beauty:

I *love* this rose. It has 2 dozen buds on it right now, so you will see a lot more of it.

This is my climbing rose, Zephirine drouhin:

There is another one on the other side and they really aren’t climbing all that much. Maybe this year they will grow more? They are supposed to tolerate some shade, but this spot might have a bit too much maybe.

The Othello lives in the bed we created last year, which is starting to fill in pretty well.

In the back is the other section that has been tough to grow stuff. It’s dry shade with morning sun. I have a baby hydrangea back there and 2 Diervilla, which are native plants that are supposed to tolerate that condition. I just put those in this spring and they haven’t died yet LOL!

The tall white flower is Campanula alba. It has a low mounding habit, but sends up tall flower spikes.

This is one that I brought from our old house and for 2 years it did nothing but sit there and this year went crazy.

In the back bed is the rose that makes me break out in song – Enchanted Evening:

The color is just fabulous on this one.

Here is a long shot of the back bed, which was an overgrown nightmare when we moved in. I’ll have to find pictures of that.

It’s actually beginning to fill in quite nicely. Now it gets even more sun since the fence was taken down. I wish this were closer to the house, but it gives me an excuse to walk out back every day.

Lupines:

It keeps getting more blooms – yay!

I do have some potted plants on the patio and this year I got something different. This is heliotrope:

It’s gorgeous and smells like vanilla.

One last survivor. Remember how I thought my 100-pound rose was dead? Check it out!

It didn’t even send a sprout up until a couple weeks ago. You can see all that woody dead cane at the bottom. I had plans to dig it up and then I hurt my shoulder. That weekend I asked John to dig it up for me. He put the shovel in the ground and started lifting when I noticed a baby sprout on it! So, we pushed it back into the ground and now here it is. Better late than never!

 

 

Welcome to June! This is the month of roses and mine will be blooming soon. Yay!

This is the third year for some of the garden beds and this will be the year of real growth in those sections. Our Calycanthus shrub has blooms:

This shrub was a bit wild and wooly last year, so I’ll be pruning it harder during  the season to keep it in line. 😀

I have some short perennials in the front of the main bed. These are a variety of Penstemon:

Just starting to bloom. These are attractive to hummingbirds and as you know, I’m trying to establish a pollinator garden.

Kneeling by the Penstemon and looking up into the irises:

I think I’m going to have to divide these. This all started from one clump in the summer of 2014. That was split into 4 clumps in 2015 and I probably will do it again this year. If anyone wants a rhizome, let me know.

Candy Mountain foxglove:

This made a ton of babies, too. I’m letting them grow for a while before I thin them out and move them around. I loves me some free plants!

Around to the back. You can see how the back corner garden is starting to mature.

In the shade garden, Lady’s Mantle.

These will have a foamy looking yellow flower later, but I just love the way rain looks on the leaves.

My sad columbines.

Something eats the leaves off of these, but nothing else. I am not going to put more back here. Maybe somewhere else.

In the corner bed I’m getting some action on my baptisia:

This is year 3 for this plant and it was just green until this year and now I have flowers!

It’s just starting and will be much showier soon. It’s a fairly large plant and once you plant it, it does not like to be moved. So – this will be its forever home.

My last iris is now showing off. This is Brindled Beauty:

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So pretty. It’s shorter than the boysenberry. I’d say maybe 2-1/2 feet tall. I’m going to buy a couple more irises (irides?) I’m kind of hooked on them now.

Have a great weekend!

 

 

Happy Friday!  Update on my shoulder:  It’s about 95% better. The pain is pretty much gone and I can use my arm. It’s a little weak, though. Guess that’s the sign of a tear since the weakness isn’t from pain.  It’s so amazing how being pain free makes your mood change for the better. Chronic pain is so stressful.

I’m back to full strength riding again. I was able to get out for a nice 18 mile ride yesterday morning before the rain came (which is still going on). i saw lots of wildlife when I was out, including this deer. She was in the path and then hopped off to the side as I approached.

We watched each other for several minutes before she crossed back out into the path and went to the other side.

Cutie!

The irises are really coming out now. I have to say that I’m disappointed that 2 of them are not going to bloom this year, the Night Ruler (black) and the Tour de France (yellow and white). Hopefully next year when they put out some new rhizomes they’ll bloom. However, the others are doing great.

Boysenberry buttercup:

This one has to be about 3-1/2 feet tall. It’s a big one.

The batik with smaller irises:

These small ones are really prolific. I don’t know what kind they are, though.

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Last year I chopped down my rhododendron by about 2/3. I wasn’t sure it was even going to live, but it did!

It has some good new green growth on it and it even is blooming.

The bumblebees go crazy for this one. Hopefully it will start shaping itself better. I’m so happy that I didn’t kill it LOL!

The rain is supposed to be gone by tomorrow and that means my first official cupcake ride of the season. John is one ahead of me 😀

Have a great holiday weekend!

 

The tulips are pretty much finished. Last night’s heavy rain took out the majority of the last lingerers. There was a beautiful rainbow after the storms:

You can just see the double, too.

I did get some pictures of the Queen of the Night a couple days ago:

Front bed:

I recently discovered Alliums. I planted some last year and then decided I loved them so much I would get other kinds. Alliums have a lot of different bloom times and so many sizes and flower types – and prices.   I get my Alliums from John Scheepers. They have over 30 different kinds.  That’s not a paid plug, either – although I would be happy to do that 😀

Alliums are a fall planted bulb and the best part is that they are rodent resistant, so the squirrels and rabbits don’t bother them like they do with tulips.

Currently in bloom is Purple Sensation:

These are quite tall, about 2-1/2 to 3 feet.  The flower itself is maybe 3-4 inches across?

Here is that one with the funny little satellite flower:

They make a nice statement and are pretty inexpensive for bulbs. The only downside is the lower foliage yellows really quickly, so you don’t want them in the front, but behind other growing plants to help hide that.

Tippy pots back in action. These are filled with wave petunias this year. Not very inspired, but they will be pretty.

I am going to get more Allium for next year. They make a nice bridge between the tulips and irises.

Speaking of irises, I’m going to have a banner crop this year! Kicking it off is the batik, which I really think is my favorite.

This is year 2 for batik. It’s not much taller than it was last year, but more blooms. It’s just so gorgeous!

How pretty is that??

There has been a little cool down in the weather, but hopefully a long ride will still happen on Saturday. I managed to hurt my shoulder and if it’s not improved by tomorrow, the first stop will be the ortho acute care clinic to get it checked before riding. I can ride with it, but I want to make sure I’m not going to hurt anything. Fingers crossed!

Another Friday and more blooms. I did a little plant shopping:

Some $2.99 perennials, including Hollyhock, shasta daisy and agastache. Plus some annuals. In the back are some biennials that I grew from seed. I actually had really good luck and have about 14 plants that I’m hardening off now. They are wall flowers. Hopefully they will be blooming this year LOL! The one big container on the right is one of those ready-to-go pots that you just plop into a container.  Here it is in said container:

This plant stand (with pot) was sitting out at the curb by the trash in front of someone’s house. It was too nice to throw away, so it came home with me.  It fills the space in this garden bed while my hydrangea grows from puny to regular size.

The tulips are still going strong:

The Catherine tulips really are gorgeous. If you want a pure white tulip, that’s the one to get.

The aliums are just starting to open up and this one sent out some strange stalk out of it. I don’t know what this will look like opened up 😀

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My shade garden is still struggling. I don’t know why I have a tough time with shady areas.

To be fair, the plants are still really small since it has been so cold. My Solomon Seal has come up:

These are very cool. I don’t know how well they multiply, but I will get more if they don’t. Those little flower buds are very neat.

The magnolia tree has lost all its spring blossoms.

I was standing under the tree and it was snowing petals.

We have lots and lots of lawn violets.

I have half a mind to just do the whole front hell strip in violets. I wonder if that would work?

The last of the Cilesta tulips.

These will be gone by the end of next week, I’m sure.

While I was out in the back, a cat bird was making a lot of noise. I don’t think it was making them at me even though it was pretty close.

They are just noisy birds.

Probably little to no biking this weekend as rain is going to come in. I do hope to get the rest of those plants in the ground in between raindrops. 😀  Have a great weekend!

Hooray Friday!  Good thing I didn’t wait until today to take pictures since it has been raining all day long.

I go out at least once a day into all the garden beds and sometimes twice a day. I’m checking for any pest damage, particularly an uprooted plant so that I can replant it asap, along with new growth and a bit of weeding. Doing a little bit of weeding every day really keeps it manageable. Even with mulch I still get weeds. Of course, I’m out there just enjoying it and it’s like Christmas each time I see something new 😀

The front bed:

The Design Impression (pink ones) are on their last legs, but you can see how much bigger they are than these other ones.

The white tulips are Catherine and the dark purple ones are Queen of the Night.

More red tulips:

This is a Triumph tulip called Escape. It’s so pretty and almost looks like a tea rose.

A few of the Carnival de Nice came back this year:

I think I will get more of these, although they don’t seem to be too long lasting.

Monte Carlo:

It’s such an unusual looking tulip. This one has a nice fragrance, too.

I also noticed that I have a huge crop of foxglove seedlings:

A platoon of them! These are the Candy Mountain. The parent plants didn’t come back, but they left all their babies 😀  I don’t know if these will bloom this year or not.

Moving around the house to the back, Lily of the Valley:

It’s amazing to me how such a tiny flower can have such a strong fragrance.

We have some sort of flowering cherry tree out back. I don’t really know what kind it is, but it sure is pretty in the spring:

This is a generic lily tulip:

I got a bag of mixed tulips a couple years ago just to get some and they weren’t labeled. So it’s generic purple lily tulip 😀

Here is the Cilesta in all its glory:

So pretty! And none of the buds got eaten this year. I don’t know if the Molemax has gotten rid of the moles, but it did deter the rabbits. Yay!

Forget-Me-Nots:

These are in the lawn, which I am very okay with.

Debby– this one is for you!

My flowering almond. It’s about 2-1/2 feet tall. I need to stake it because it seems to be leaning and I want to force the main stem more upright. It’s so pretty! I wish it was a little closer to the house to see it.

I’m also happy to report that both my butterfly bushes survived. I wasn’t sure about one of them. And the Baby Joe Pye Weed, which was really late to begin to poke out of the ground. So, I’ve only lost a few plants. Just the bleeding hearts and one rose bush.