Garden Walk, May 7

The 'Big Smile' tulips are

almost past their prime.

I'm not sure why the petals are curling...

One of the last quince blooms...

Phase One of Spring seems to be passing.

Phase Two begins.

Lilies of the Valley buds

'Mother's Day' Azalea is blooming well this Sunday.

The other one will actually bloom on the real Mother's Day next Sunday.

Lamium blooms

Forget-me-not flowering

Irish Moss expanding

Ajuga blooming and expanding

Azalea budding

Phase Two full blast by Mother's Day!

Spring Solitude

The dogwood tree next door is looking good this Spring.

I tended it for many years when it was not doing well.

Now the former neighbors are gone and new ones arrived.

A robin was chattering in the evergreen.

She was very nervous.

She must have a nest.

And then I saw a squirrel scamper out of the tree.

All is quiet now.

Nantucket Daffodil Festival

Arriving on the ferry and taking a trip

up cobblestoned Main Street.

The garden club members are

decorating for the annual

Daffodil Festival.

Around the corner at the bookstore, 

it's obvious Spring is not as far along

here as it is in Connecticut.

Linda's driveway display in the fog.

Some more yellow out towards the pool.

The next day, the sun came out

and made the daffodils gleam against the gray.

Back downtown, 

yellow was everywhere.

We brought some blooms inside

to brighten the gray sky outside the windows.

No wonder Nantucket celebrates daffodils!

Blooms for May Day

Purple (or Violet!)

White Flowering Deutzia shrub

Blush Daffodil

Red Tulip

Classic Yellow Naturalizing Daffodils

and another color variation.

Somehow these May blooms ended up

on my Designs by Didi blog...

Budding Quince

Flowering Pulmonaria

Such abundance!

No wonder the pollen--and the allergies--are terrible.

Mid-April Blooms

This is about the extent of anything happening in the garden beds.

The Tete-a-tete Daffodils bloomed after an 80 degree day on Tuesday.

Even though we've had rain, we're not out of a drought.

And we've hit 80 one day each of the past two weeks.

Other than that, we're chilly and sunny today for an egg hunt.

I bought some pansies for color.

The chives were green.

It's definitely jacket and sweater weather for Lily and Violet--

and most of the other blooms.

Ahhhh! Back to Gardening

It's not an April Fool!  The sun came out; the skies cleared up; and the soil was workable. Ahhhh!

I grabbed my garden gloves, pruners, a lopper, and an old fleece.  I wanted to pull out the Creeping Jenny which had invaded the garden last year so I also took the 3-tine cultivator.  Garden man came later with a tarp and a wheelbarrow--reluctantly.

I exercise regularly all winter so that first day in the garden is not too much of a strain.  I switched between pruning and cultivating to rest my back a bit.  It felt very good to be in the sun and in the soil.  The birds were singing.  The brook was roaring after two days of rain.  All is good.

Done for today!

Gloves are drying out.  Pruners also.

Bird bath is ready to level later.

Poppies are coming up again!

They tried earlier but faced snow and cold temperatures.

The tulips are hiding behind the daffodils

(from the front of the border).

Sometimes the deer and/or bunnies don't see them.

I hope this will be such a year.

I cut back the fountain grass (foreground)

and the butterfly bush ( behind grass).

The Buddleia was much too big last year.

I read in the UCONN Garden Center newsletter to cut it back to 6 inches now.

We'll see what happens...

Signs of Spring

It's hard to believe a friend and I walked the paths in Elizabeth Park a few days ago.  The wind is howling around the corner of the house, making the windows creak. I have the fireplace going to dispel the cold leaking in. Yet, these are the sights from that amble down the paths.

Crocus find a sheltered spot to bloom.

Snowdrops bloom in drifts across the leaf litter.

We had been to a luncheon at the Pond House Cafe

to hear a speaker, Stephen Scaniello.

He is author of the book A Rose By Any Name.

He is an acclaimed Rosarian

and gardener and curator of

several famous rose gardens:

Brooklyn Botanical Garden and New York Botanical Garden

and now the Elizabeth Park Rose Garden.

He has been especially helpful with

the new Heritage Rose Garden there.

We can't wait to visit again in late June to see the 

old, old roses we remember in our grandmothers' gardens,

both their full-petaled bloom and fragrance.