spring flowers!

tulips (a few days ago)

and now-

spring beauty 

bleeding hearts emerging 

Camellia!

For the longest time I didn't know what this flower was coming up through my spiderwort, 

but I found out this week that it's Virginia bluebell!

There's grape hyacinths in the backyard scattered here and there

and violets everywhere.

Soon I will also have lily of the valley,

Lungwort:

Lots of hellebores this year:

and that's enough pictures for now

around the garden

I've been doing some work on the garden structure- the bed edges and such. But too tired from that to write it all out now, so here's some incidental pictures from the past few days. More on the actual work tomorrow. Found an unknown caterpillar- black and spiky!- on the boneset plant.

Which is doing great- it grew so fast, 

already the height of my small camellia.

I want to get more of this plant, or the common one that blooms in summer. Near it is the yarrow- so thin and small- I really admired some yarrow in a relative's yard several states south this past weekend, where it's warmer- hers so bright and thick and feathery! I suspect now mine would do better if I move it to a sunnier location.

Funny though, the same gardener had arum growing here and there in her yard. She asked me what it was- they'd been pulling it out! I like the bright, exotic appearance. She thought it might be an objectionable plant. I shrugged and said: well, if you like it, leave it be- but if you don't want it around, you'll probably have to dig up the tuberous roots. Here's mine, regrowing in fall-

I dug up a few echinacea to take to the plant swap soon. Here with other potted extras on my little bench- several catmint, a few beautyberry, and two pots of the miniature geranium (which I've grown tired of).

Not sure I'm going to take the beautyberries to the swap, though. Half the larger ones I transplanted died, or look like they did. This one by the hydrangeas is just a few thin sticks with a few leaves- 

but it does have three clusters of bright purple!

The side bed it's in, starting to look a bit neater and more deliberate. I've dug the stones into their places in the ground, to make the edge. Pulled more grass from behind the edge, and transplanted some errant ajuga out of the lawn, back into the bed.

When I was doing that work (actually about a week ago) I trimmed a bit of the wild chrysanthemum, and just stuck the cuttings in the ground on the other side of the little ornamental cypress. Wasn't sure if they'd take- but not only did they survive, they're blooming! Hard to see in this photo, I'll get a better one soon.

tidied up

grass edges around a few more beds today, and borders of the lawn where my husband mowed yesterday. I was trimming stuff and pulling (what I think is) japanese stiltgrass from around the milkweeds- still no monarch caterpillars though I did glance looking for them- and saw the hummingbird! It was inspecting my young hybrid japanese maple tree (wonder what attracted it to that) and then zoomed over to feed on a few blooms of gladiolas. Must be feeding on the black and blue salvia, too. I'm hoping the cardinal climbers will bloom soon and then I can see it on my deck. 

I do believe my echinacea patch looks healthier than ever this year.

I'd hope it's from measures I took the year before last, to cut back on disease- cutting out all stems that had white stickiness fuzz from mealy bugs, and when the plants died back, cleaning out as much of the dropped blackened leaf litter as I could- assuming it harbored aphid eggs. This year there seems to be far less diseased leaves. (I had the same sense about my borage patch in the front yard, but it could just be that I'm so glad to be out doing stuff in the yard again, everything looks better than ever, ha). 

I've seen what looks like a single pea vine among the echinacea in years past, this time I found it flowering- looks like a sweet pea but no scent.

The funny seed stalks of my arum are standing around.

I did see a swallowtail butterfly up close among the coneflowers, and stood a while just to watch it. Still pleased with my patch of lysimachia purpurea groundcover

- although it remains much less impressive through the camera eye.

Also happy with the sweet woodruff, even though I still remember how my youngest thought it was a weed! (The one that's really a weed is the creeping jenny- I regret putting that in now. I must start pulling it out).

The boneset plant is doing just fine here in the back corner- where nothing else had really thrived yet. It's near my camellia- here's a picture of that- which also looks better this year than ever.

I'm telling you, my vision is colored overly positive since recovery has allowed me to get outside and get my hands pleasantly dirty again! Only an hour or two a day so far, that's enough to tire me out still, but I'm happy with it.

a few spring flowers

My camellia is blooming!

First bleeding heart this season 

and some of the older hellebores look great, although I need to go out and trim off the older leaves

better and better!

My camellia is blooming!

It is still small, not even my height yet, but so many flowers. I guess toughing it through the winter was fine.

Rhubarb is unfolding grand leaves. I gave it compost. Crossing fingers I've found a spot for it, where it can make it through the summer heat.

Something had been eating the young euonymus I transplanted few years ago. Deer, or rabbit. I fenced off the largest two, but the tips kept getting nipped off through the wire anyway. Then patched a loose board in the fence, and now there's new leaves everywhere. I suspect it was the rabbit.

Borage I stuck in a pot is forming buds

I wondered if the heartleaf brunnera I moved would do okay- as I kinda forced them into the holes which weren't dug quite deep enough. But they look fine. 

Two are even flowering!

Nice to see that the sweet woodruff perked up without any care from me at all- I haven't even watered it since patting onto the ground. 

how some are doing

I have quite a few houseplants that still need moving up, but need to get more potting soil and keeping what I have for the garden plants that will need space more urgently. Meanwhile I've spread the fronds of my asparagus fern held in place with halved chopsticks- thinking by the time I get around to repotting the plant, the stems will hold themselves in place- more evenly spaced and attractive.

I keep peeking under the mulch wondering if my rhubarb made it through the winter- and it did! 

I did not protect my camellia at all this winter- once or twice just knocked snow off it when the branches were getting bent down. Seems it did fine- there's plenty of fat buds and I'm hoping for blooms- I see a hint of pink color!

One of my newer plants, the st. john's wort, also came through the winter just fine:

and the borage I moved into a pot is okay too (though it looks like slugs have found it)

I never gave this 'wild' mint any special attention, but this spring moved it into a larger pot with some better soil. It's already responding well

Potted up the leaf beet chard seedlings. Ate the extras I pinched off from sprouted clusters. 

Next to go into paper pots will be the second set of marigolds, and the sweet peas. But I'm holding off a week or so for reasons in next post.