In bloom...

When you consider how few days of sun we've had since spring began, and how few of those days I actually had time to sit in the dirt and pull weeds, I'm really pleased with how the yard is looking this year.

Right now, all the perennials are up, and so far, it's a study in green and purple (one of my favorite color combinations!) Only blue and purple flowers are in bloom right now: forget-me-nots, bluebells, lilacs, and hellebores. Next to bloom will be the iris (native purple with yellow beards), columbine, and the bright orange poppies, and then the day lilies, garden phlox, and peonies.



The big hanging fuchsia is a Mother's Day gift for my mother-in-law, but we get to enjoy it for a few days.

It always seems to rain buckets right after the lilacs burst into bloom. This year, it's rained buckets before, during, and after.

Please ignore the occasional dandelion that may appear in these photographs. The weeds (and the blackberries) grow faster than I can weed.



The patio borders are easy to weed, so I save them for last. The azaleas are just finishing and the hostas are up. In the next few days the rhododendrons will start to bloom, one right after the other through June and into July. The pink dogwood is blooming, and everything else is waiting for its turn: perennial bachelor's buttons, lady's mantle, orange poppies, peonies, day lilies, and veronica spicata.
There are pots of everything tucked into the gardens here and there, rescues from last year that need a permanent home.

The flowers are blooming in an odd cycle this year, after our cold and wet winter. Did you know that we measure weather in two six-month periods: October 1 through March 31, and April 1 through September 30? I didn't, until we broke the rainfall record for the second year in a row. Can you picture 44.7 inches of rain in just 7 months? Our weather is always big news around here.

Anyway, back to the garden. All that rain is the reason for the lushness of the perennials, and even though they all seem to be late bloomers in 2017, they're making up for lost time by growing into huge plants way ahead of schedule.

So I hope this little gardening diary will help me compare growth and bloom against the garden next year.

But if we head for a third year of record-breaking rainfall, all bets are off!