What's Blooming?

This is year three for most of the plantings in my garden and things have really settled in, spread out and started to bloom. There were some casualties though. Our harsh winter seems to have done in the calla lilies and I've lost the battle with the snails over the lupine. The large leafed hostas look pretty chewed up as well so they may get gifted to a gardener with less of a snail problem (or one who is more willing to go to war with them). The smaller leaved variegated ones are fine though. Who's to say what's super tasty to a snail?  What I like best about the finished area of the garden is that it's becoming quite low maintainence. My goal was to have no bare dirt, and without bare dirt after my big weedfest in early spring I really only pull the odd weed throughout the summer. Now that the plantings are established it doesn't need much watering and the shrubs are finally getting tall enough to start giving us the privacy we were needing. If only I could talk David into getting rid of the grass, then there wouldn't even be any mowing to do. Finally I can be out in that area and just enjoy it without seeing all the work to do. Of course there are still other areas that are basically wild right now - heaps of dirt, blackberries, binderweed, herb robert, dandelions, chickweed and other nameless weeds. Once my whole garden was like that though, so slowly it's being converted.

There's lots of colour out there right now, mostly from the foxgloves which blooming in white, purple and every shade of pink and from the Nelly Moser clematis, which is blooming it's heart out this year with huge dinner plate sized pink and white blooms. The one plant that is repeated in my garden a lot is Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla Mollis). It's just so easy care and attractive and it seems happy in every situation I've got it in, from hot and dry to partly shady and damp. It's a big blousy plant with interesting leaves and I love the acid yellow colour of the tiny blooms.
I'm still waiting on my peonies this year. Everything is late after our long cold winter, but the peonies which usually bloom around my birthday are still a couple of weeks away.

Comments

[Denise Leavens]

Oooooo! That foxglove is glorious! I don't know why, but all my WHITE flowers are that ones that are thrilling me this year. The white I have so far is roses, geraniums, columbines, alyssum, snapdragons, and hydrangeas (but they are only in tiny bud stage.)
I live in western Washington state and am waiting for my peonies to bloom too.