You gotta be quick

Some flowers, whether on trees, shrubs, or standing on their own, don't last long. It is easy to miss the peak display while waiting for them to peak. Since this spring feels compressed, there is something new almost every day.

I was hoping the chives would bloom along with something else in the same bed, but the daffodils are too early and the daylilies too late. I see these when I look out my kitchen window, and they still cheer me.

Since this is the first year for the Prairie Fire crabapple and it still looks mostly like a stick, I'm not sure how long the blossoms will last. The Perfect Purple crab in the front yard is done, so I'm enjoying these while they last.

Since the prairie smoke are in the bed on the south side of the house, an area I don't visit very often, it is easy to forget them. I would like to line the front of the bed with these, but I'm afraid the more aggressive plants will overwhelm them.

We are still spreading wood chips. I still have gobs of plants to go into the ground. Before I can transplant, though, I have to weed and prep the beds. It looks like the butterfly bush did not survive being moved, but it didn't look all that great to begin with. If it is defunct, I think I will not replace it.

Are you keeping up this spring?

Blue, I'm blue. And purple. And pink. And white.

Yellow is the color of springtime around here, but this year there was no forsythia and few daffodils. Even the dandelions lacked enthusiasm. But the follow-up act has been stupendous.

I'm not really an iris person - too much show for too short a time, and then they spread and spread and spread. Do newer cultivars not spread? I see them in polite little clumps in other yards, but mine (which came with the house) have been a PITA. I dug up and gave away all the white ones, while the purple have been less than stunning. Until this year. Someday they may follow the white to other homes, but for now, I guess I'll keep them.

Iris

Is catnip the same as catmint? I have purchased catnip in the herb section and catmint in the perennial section, but they look alike. Recently, I found a site that says they *are* alike. The only difference seems to be whether they have a fancy name, like 'Walker's Low'.

Catnip

Catmint

Chives are chives, I think. These are regular chives, which bloom in the spring. I also have garlic chives, which are much less robust and bloom later in the summer, with completely different flowers. I like them both, but use the regular ones more, while waiting for the onions to grow.

Chives

I had to look the next one up. I knew it was "false" something - the color should have given it away. I'm not sure when I planted it - cant' find a blog entry for it - and I can't find the plant tag, so if it is something special, we'll never know.

False indigo, up close

False indigo, holding its own

The columbine is running rampant this year, spreading here and there to its heart's content. Fine with me. I bought a fancy cultivar a year or two ago, but have not noticed it yet. Maybe it succumbed to the winter? Or was eaten alive by the catmint?

Columbine

I was able to find the name of this shrub. It not only survived the winter but the rabbits as well; the snows were deeper than the chicken wire was high, so it got nibbled a bit. It strikes me as a very hardy specimen.

Wentworth highbush cranberry

These phlox also came with the house. Some years they nearly take over the yard, but they are welcome guests who know when it is time to leave. Once the flowers have turned to seeds, the plants dry up. The seed scatter as I pull out the stalks, ensuring their return next spring.

Phlox (please ignore all the thistle)

Too bad salvia are not long bloomers. If pinched back, they sometimes bloom again, but I don't have the patience.

Salvia nemorosa ‘New Dimension Rose’

What color is your garden today?

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme

That is what I planted in one pot tonight. The rosemary and parsley wintered over in the West Wing, the thyme and sage are new purchases. Another pot now holds the Early Girl tomato and about two dozen onion sets. I'm experimenting with growing green onions for salad in a container. We'll see how that works out.

Last Sunday my SO helped me (once again!) with the garden, digging up the sod where the paths around the veggie beds are to be. I cleaned out the shed and sifted compost and moved mulch, and I'm sure I did some other things because I was very tired by the end of the day. The peas and onions (the ones in the ground) and mesclun is up. We came close to having a frost the other night, but these are all cold hardy. I was not so sure about the impatiens in the flower box on the front porch, but they look okay.

And nothing phases the chives.

I Was Right

The mystery plant is keys of heaven. I planted three of them several years ago, and two were hiding in the spreading bee balm. The third is looking wilted, and I have no idea why. The 1.25" of rain Friday night didn't help.

I moved most of the bee balm today. Three little plants that had turned into three large clumps are now a dozen small clumps along the fence. I left a little bee balm around the keys of heaven, just in case that is why the rabbits haven't eaten it (yet).

Yesterday I started listing all the plants/shrubs/trees I have in my yard (see sidebar) and realized just how much I have planted over the years that has not survived. The rabbits do a fair share of damage, but sometimes things just don't make it through the winter around here. Dry summers and too much shade may be factors as well.

There is an incredible bird racket this afternoon. Some fledgling starlings are learning to fly. Yesterday a litter of young squirrels were playing follow the leader in the front yard - six of them! And last night, ducks were roosting on the house.



We came back from walking the dog and there were ducks on my roof!



And I think I forgot to mention that a week or two ago, I spotted a woodchuck scurrying into the culvert under a neighbor's driveway. I'm glad some of the creatures of the wild can coexist with us two-leggeds.

Besides moving bee balm, yesterday I moved the chives, after clearing out the bed formerly known as the strawberry pyramid.



I'm not sure why, but after several successful years, the strawberries disappeared. Probably a severe winter and lack of diligence on my part (I forgot to cover them with straw.)



Strawberry pyramids are okay, but I decided to try using this area for herbs instead. Besides the chives, in one quadrant I planted some cilantro, parsley, and sweet basil from seed. If they sprout, I'll make successive plantings in the other three-fourths.



I hope rhubarb likes chives and herbs.

The honeysuckle vines are putting out the welcome mat for hummingbirds, but I haven't seen any yet.



I don't know why the yellow is so much more robust than the yellow. Might be a shade thing, but both of them will get plenty of sun this year.

Traveling around the yard, we see that it is almost showtime for the climbing rose...



... while it looks like curtains for these peonies...



... but not this one, a later variety.



And - surprise! - Betty Corning is blooming.



I planted two of these clematis two years ago, and have been disappointed with their performance. But I think they are going to make up for it this year. Both plants are tall and bushy. Like they say, first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap!

I (heart) Compost

Earlier this spring, I spread a little love around my yard in the form of compost. The shrubs and perenniels are responding favorably. Compost is such a gentle but potent way to feed the soil which feeds the plants.

Another photo of the onondaga viburnum...



... which doesn't do justice to the contrasting colors of the unopened buds and the creamy flowers.

The chives are almost the same shade of lavendar...



... as the spring phlox that reappear in my yard each year.



There are a lot of mushrooms as well.



I presume the spores piggy back on the mulch.



And I presume these are not edible.

The cotoneaster is recovering from the whacking I gave it earlier this spring.



It is just starting to bloom, as are the columbine...



... and the peony.



The iris is in full swing.



No, this is not poison ivy, but virginia creeper. It got a foothold several years ago and I just let it go, to see what would happen.



Unfortunately, what is going to happen is that it will get whacked when the Florida room is replaced. Not to worry, though, as there is more growing in the back garden.