What We're Looking at Now

The eternal optimism of gardeners. I've noticed it in myself and in many a gardening friend.
I think it's part of why we become gardeners, don't you?

For instance, here is one of our flower beds right now.



Doesn't look like much now, does it? But soon we'll have tulips blooming, quickly followed by poppies and hesperis matronalis. Soon after will be lupines, the viburnum shrub, peonies, and shasta daisies. Then in July, echinacea, daylilies, anchusa, hibiscus, liliums, monardas, crocosmias, a clematis and all will be finished off with asters and mums in the fall.
There is also a buddleia alternifolia in the back, to the left of the viburnum. The tree on the left is a corkscrew willow.


Another unimpressive looking bed.



Here we'll be seeing more tulips, then eremuru (foxtail lilies), with cream colored daylilies followed by ostrich ferns, peonies, and backed up on the fence with 'Elsa Spath' clematis and Ginger Syllabub climbing rose.
You can see the little evergreen tree on the left. Next to that are the bare limbs of a spring flowering tree we planted too long ago for me to remember its name.


Another bed full of potential,




This bed is backed by cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple', Fallopia japonica 'Crimson Beauty' and buddleia davidii 'Lochinch'. It is also anchored on the right with a 20 year old blue spruce tree that was one of the first trees we planted when we had our house built and on the left with elaeagnus angustifolia (Russian Olive tree). Tulips will also appear in this bed soon along with campanulas, stachys macrantha, anemone japonicas, more daylilies, peonies, clematis integrifolia, salvias, iris, tall garden phlox, and more lilies. On a trellis on the back fence is one of our honeysuckle vines.




OK, this will be the last bed I'll show you in this rather long post.

A few daffodils blooming now. No tulips in this bed. Most of our quaking aspen trees grow here along with syringa reticulata 'Ivory Silk', crambe cordifolia, and a serviceberry tree. On the back fence we have another honeysuckle, 'viticella polish spirit' clematis and 'Abraham Darby' rose, all on trellises. There will be plenty of columbines soon, then Nicholas daylilies, geranium 'Biokovo', 'Norah Leigh' phlox, more peonies, a perennial sweetpea, lychnis coronaria, hopefully some delphiniums, more shasta daisies, and eventually tartarian asters and Aconitum (monkshood).
I'll be planting annuals in the old wheelbarrow and the old metal bucket.
On the back fence to the right you can see a shelf on which we display favorite found rocks, crystals, or other objects of interest.
In the back corner where the fences meet is a lilac that reseeded from our neighbor's house.

Most of our planted containers from last year are showing signs of life of those in which we had planted perennials.




This could be Cimicifuga 'Chocoholic'. I hope so anyway.

And just to enforce how little it takes to thrill a gardener in the spring, I leave you with this little sprout, which I believe is the Dicentra 'Gold Heart' we planted in our shade garden last year.



Yes, it's tiny.




Happy Gardening!