What a beautiful spring season we had! The cool days were brisk and refreshing and I miss that. Perhaps it was that which prolonged the bloom time of my flowers or maybe spring just
seemed longer because I had more time to enjoy it without all of the stress of planning our spring conference. Whatever the reason, the flowers were all too happy and gave a great display all season long, I was even able to keep up with most of the weeds.
Flowering Trees - early April
The redbud and serviceberry trees were among the first to bloom followed by the pink dogwood tree.
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| Redbud tree in foreground on left; Pink dogwood in background. |
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| View of front yard from the living room. |
The serviceberry tree doesn't seem too impressive in this picture but it's a beautiful, sweet little tree in person. I wish more nurseries would sell these gorgeous little native trees.
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| Serviceberry flowers |
Spring Bulbs - April
A little planning in the fall paid off. I planted several bulbs all around the front gardens and for the first time tried layering bulbs. It's a planting technique where you dig a very wide and deep hole and plant bulbs that bloom a few weeks apart at different depths (the layers) based on the bulb's depth requirement. This works great in containers too. It was wonderful to have a continuous display of flowers in the same spot. The three pics below show this; first the daffodils, then the white narcissus, then ending with the pink tulips. Sadly I missed getting more pictures of the tulips but you can see one or two starting out.
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| Blue and pink hyacinths, purple tulips and reliable good ole' pansies. |
Other Flowers - late April-May
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| Virginia spiderwort (blue flowers) and Green and gold - chrysogonum virginianum - little yellow star-like flowers in back. |
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| Virginia Spiderwort, tradescantia virginiana |
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| Viola White Czar |
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| Yellow Jasmine; Gelsemium sempervirens |
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| Yellow jasmine vine on birdhouse/feeder pole. |
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| Fothergilla |
Peonies - May
I can't remember having such an abundance of peonies in past as I did this year. From early May through now, I've been able to cut armfuls of peonies. I had so many, that once a week I would take bunches of them to share with friends.
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| Peonies, yellow roses, coreopsis, and showy evening primrose (oenothera speciosa) filling the foreground and all over. |
Roses - mid-late May
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| Pale pink climbing roses on arbor in the back yard. |
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| The scent of these roses is amazing. |
Virginia rose is a fast spreading rose shrub. I've planted it in the front yard to create a pretty screen/hedge to block the view of the road.
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| Virginia rose, rosa virginiana |
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| The two purple flowers in the foreground from left to right - catmint nepeta and babtisia australis. |
Now, I wait for summer/later summer flowers to start blooming. It will be spectacular but I will miss my spring darlings.
Till June!
