across the front

My front bed has needed a lot of cleaning up. So many weeds and young volunteer trees to pull, mulch to spread, things to trim back. My clumps of clary sage have lots of bug holes-

 But I was pleased to find, next to this baby cranesbill, a new clary sage as well! At least one of them self-seeded (even though I cut the flower stalks back to try and get a second bloom).

A few catmint have popped up here, too, next to the brunnera. Those traveled far!

Even though I only pinched back the mums once, they grew quite thick so I hope flower without flopping over too much this year.

In the other front corner by the driveway, I've weeded and mulched around the daylilies- and you can see that little pink lily is still here!

Some of the lyreleaf sage I planted under the lilac are finally looking okay.

And this one is grown really thick and lush. I think it might be one of those ajuga actually getting a foothold now- it looks very much like the lyreleaf, I won't really be sure until it blooms in spring. Feel silly not recognizing my own plant, but hey.

I'm dismayed my lilac is still apparently dying. The right half is still bare, in fact the barren branches seem to be spreading. And there's very little bug sign on the foliage this year. I'm stumped. Is it the encroachment of the black-and-blue salvia I put in the corner behind it? Did I really overdo it with leaf mulch those early winters, and it got rot down in the root crown? I just don't know.

first true leaves

are out on my cardinal climber seedlings. They're not quite big enough, and it's too cold (got chilly this week) to plant them yet.

Which saddened me a little, because today I glimpsed a hummingbird on the deck, it flew by the window and paused a moment. Sad that I don't have many flowers to offer it. The black-and-blue salvia has grown quickly- its foliage two feet tall now! but not close to blooming. I think hummingbird will feed on the clary sage, the lilac, and maybe the columbine?

but those aren't many in my yard. The poor lilac only has one half of it blooming. The other side, bare stems. I am still not sure if deer have nipped it, or the neighbor's tree shades it too much, or the tree that was growing in its middle choked it some.

But it smells lovely as always.

what's coming up

Actually, that was not so hot for April yesteraday. I suppose it just felt so. I looked it up- record temperature for this area in April was 97°. Doing more cleanup around the yard- clearing away dead stems and foliage that I'd left overwinter, spreading mulch (still have a good supply from the maples we took out last year). The oakleaf and pannicle hydrangeas are leafing out, and the rose of sharons just barely starting to. Lilac is nearly in full leaf- but oddly one side of the plant has hardly any. Insect damage? Too much shade from the neighbor's tree? 

 Cranesbill are all sprouting up, bleeding hearts are in full bloom and the columbines look nice across the rear of the front flower bed, where there's nothing much else yet. Later on they'll be obscured by coleus and more when they die back in summer neat. My peonies are putting up shoots, hosta and gladiolas are emerging, yellow salvias already in full leaf around the base of trees. Ajuga spreading bright color so nicely, and I'm very happy to see the ostrich ferns emerging- there seem to be a few more this spring! Beautyberry is leafing, which makes me very happy, and all the heucherellas are still here (not eaten up by rabbits yet). Joe pye weed is growing back. I need to tidy up the liriope and hellebores. I have not yet seen any growth on the black-and-blue salvia, milkweed or mums. And disappointing, there's no borage seedlings. I think a few had come up months ago in the garden, but I dug them out when preparing the beds for planting, thinking plenty would grow in the perennial spot, or around the mailbox. Nope. I wonder if they sprouted earlier when it was unseasonally warm, and then died in the cold again.

Here's a few hellbore flowers I cut and put in tiny jars on the kitchen windowsill to admire for a week.

Just now I planted out the mulberry seedling, mulched and watered it, fenced it around to keep off the deer. The young holly I moved to a spot just downslope of it on that hillside is still alive! The other two look dead but when I scrape a tiny spot with fingernail on the bark, still green underneath so I'm leaving them there in case they can recover. Dug and planted the two canna lilies in a spot near the ostrich fern where it gets pretty damp- water flows there from both the downspout on that side of the house, and output from our basement sump. I've been thinking of someday putting irises in that area, too . . . 

Lovage is thick enough to eat now, so I might strike celery off the grocery shopping list.

shifted salvia

Well today I dug and moved the black and blue salvia. Doesn't look like much, just some upright bare stems mostly- 

to the left of the steps (on the right is the cut back milkweed)

Now the lilac has its spot pretty much to itself- aside from two smaller salvias behind it still

I hope I judged its mature size accurately- it's nearly overlapping the stepping stone now

Nearby in that little strip alongside the driveway, one of the blanket flower seems to have died. The others have poufballs of seedheads.

bugleweed pieces

I mostly wanted to start groundcover under these trees- it doesn't look much now, but I had solomon's seal planted under the furthest one (something ate it), hostas around the foreground left (deer ate them) and sensitive fern planted around the foreground right (withered from bugs and/or heat over summer but is coming back a little bit now). To spread it out enough, I gently pulled and teased each pot of bugleweed apart into many little individual crowns.

The bugleweeds are so little, barely noticeable now- but if it's anything like the ones I got last year, will fill in soon enough. Narrow-leaved 'chocolate chip' around the tree that has sensitive fern (there's four visible in this pic)

'Burgundy glow' around the tree with the eaten hostas-

'Bronze beauty' around the tree on the shady sideyard slope

and 'black scallop' half circled by where the solomon's seal were.

Then I planted more of the 'chocolate chip' on the sunny sideyard, alongside a new row of stepping stones I'm placing there-

Most are in a row under shade of the large lamb's ears-

and gladiolas foliage

and two tucked between step stones

Only had one specimen of dwarf 'metallica crispa' and I put this one under the hydrangea by the rhubarb (yeah, I moved my rhubarb again. I'm a week behind updates here!)

Last of all, the dwarf 'chocolate chip' variety went around the lilac shrub out front. 

I put a new stepping stone down there- this old one in the middle was slippery

so I laid a different larger one that has rough surface but it stands up further above the ground so now I wish I'd had more of the standard bugleweed size, not got the little dwarf ones because they're so cute!

Look what I found when I was working in that spot- my aglaonema and apparently it bloomed this year, but I totally missed it- hidden under the daylily foliage.

planted

a week ago actually, but I'm only just now getting around to all the pictures. Beautyberry- between the base of the shady sideyard slope and the large holly shrub, against side of the house.

From the other side it's barely visible, but I hope it will grow out and arch over/through the railings, reaching onto the lower deck.

Oakleaf hydrangea to one side of the rear perennial bed-

I'm rather excited to have this plant. I hope it fills in a great blank space back there, and I love its foliage

not to mention the flowers will come. I fenced it against deer and rabbits-

I feel like it's already making a statement in the rear left of that bed

Just in front left of that main oak tree, I put the st. john's wort. 

Looks small now, but already I like its contrast against the hellebore.

View from other angle:

The wandflower went to the side near pannicle hydrangea, between smaller rue and the two jacob's ladder plants 

(all of them rather inconspicuous right now)

Up front I rather ruthlessly dug up all the echinacea that were next to my lilac- it was getting crowded

Also dug up the two hyssop here on the driveway edge- even though it's been doing splendid

I wanted to put these bright bold blanket flowers there instead

(there's still a few rudbeckia and marigold in between)

That meant moving the hyssop- and assuming it's part of the plant scent keeping rabbits from my garden, I figured to use it elsewhere. Replanted on top of the shady sideyard slope- in a curve around edge of the turtlehead patch and yellow salvia.

The two plants divided into four- one I pulled apart and the other broke when I was digging. 

Don't know how well they'll do here- probably not quite enough sun- but I wanted to try

Well now the lilac has all its space. Underneath it I've planted little plugs of bugleweed, but that's coming up.