Just can't resist

I haven't been posting many photos of my yard and garden this year, but sometimes one just can't help oneself.

Last summer, my SO and I attempted to shape the purple leaf smokebush. It doesn't get quite enough sun, so looks rather rangy late in the season. Our efforts paid off. This baby looks almost perfect. We will have to keep up the good work.

The Golden Spirit smokebush isn't smoking much yet, but it looks wonderfully lush. It is in a sunnier location than its cousin, so hopefully will not get so gangly.

I know I have already posted a pic of the Lemony Lace elderberry, but I just can't get over how great it looks this year. It's framed by mugo pine and cotoneaster. Some of my neighbors are probably shaking their heads, imagining my shrubbery as the perfect place for a creep to hide. Quite frankly, if someone manages to get into this shrubbery, I doubt he will be able to get out without a lot of thrashing around.

I forgot I had tucked a couple of extra black hollyhock plants next to the climbing rose. One is languishing - not enough sun - the other surprised me with these blooms, earlier than the ones in the garden proper. The rose is not very prolific this year, probably due to that harsh winter we had.

I'm still struggling a bit with my hip. My GP sent me to an osteo surgeon who had only one solution to offer: replacement. Talk about a one-trick pony! Most days I can walk without much pain, so I'm holding off. I'm following Pete Egoscue's skeletal alignment exercises and self-administering trigger point therapy, practicing some yoga poses and physical therapy exercises I've picked up over the years. So far, so good, although there are days when I wonder if I'm being too stubborn.

Everything is HUGE (including the weeds)

As a rule, I don't water lawn at all, shrubs and in-ground plants only in times of drought. This spring has been wet, wet, wet, and it is amazing what a lot of rain will do. Everything looks ginormous.

'Chicago Lustre' and 'Blue Muffin' viburnum

Wentworth highbush cranberry

Catmint

I should have included the blue false indigo in the front yard as well. Last year there were loads of volunteer columbine, this year only a few plants. The creeping phlox and cotoneaster both need to be restrained from world domination.

Despite the weeds, perennials transplanted last year are faring well. I couldn't remember if I planted cup plant or compass plant by the back fence. As this photo shows, definitely cup plants.

These blossoms looked like they were on the chokeberry shrub; that's how weedy my yard is. They are a nightshade of some sort (bittersweet?), an invasive. Pretty, though.

Today we've had several downpours between bouts of sunshine, producing a fair amount of humidity. I've been trying to spend at least a little time each day yardening, but family and friends have also need tending recently. Thank goodness for privacy fencing!