New Blooms

Spring is so freakin’ exciting! Here’s an update on activity happening on the lot.

West House Bed

The lily foliage is very full. I’m pretty sure they’ve created a mini Everglades.

Southwest House Bed

The two surprise purple hyacinth are long gone. The tulips are also reaching the end of their blooming period. Iris blades are almost full grown and the rose bush (which I still haven’t read up on) is healthy and beginning to snarl.

South Front Bed

All flowers are now open in this bed. There are the yellow and red tulips mentioned in my previous post, two kinds of yet-to-be-identified tulips that opened after the others and the beginnings of the Star of Bethlehem.

East Sidewalk Bed

The orange/yellow tulip fully opened up. It’s absolutely beautiful. Like the southwest bed, irises in this bed are getting larger by the hour as well. I cannot remember what type of irises they are. 

Gate Bed

The ice stick tulips have run their course. However, having opened later than the others, there are still some grape hyacinth in this bed. The hosta I rescued from the willow and moved to this bed survived! I was worried because I had moved it so late in the season last year. Just the beginnings of the leaves are emerging from the ground. The chocolate mint I planted here is doing well. The foam flower now has stalks extending with tiny clusters of buds. The fiddleheads of two of the Japanese painted ferns appeared a week or so ago, and one of them is doing very well. I also found, at a hardware store, a bare root jack-in-the-pulpit for this bed. I’ve planted it but am very dubious as to if it will do anything.

Fence Bed

The ice stick tulips in this bed were finished about a half week ahead of the same tulips in the gate bed. The hollyhocks in this bed are getting huge. I guess the whole self-sow thing was a success for that plant. I’m curious to see if they will be the same color as the mother plant or if they will each have their own hue. The Queen of the Night tulips are in full bloom. The hibiscus is looking...well...dead. I’ve read they are late to wake up, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. (Hey, it worked for the scilla.) Last but not least, I bought two different types, four each, of snapdragons for this bed. 

Loki’s Bed

This bed is going to be adorable. I'm pretty excited about it. Miss A helped me to border the bed with violas. One of these little flowers is in my favorite photograph of my dear Loki-cat. He seems so peaceful in the photo, lounging in the sun at the edge of my mother’s garden, that I thought it appropriate to place violas in his memorial bed. Late blooming grape hyacinth are at the corner of this bed. I was going to move them this fall since they seemed to struggle this spring, but now they look so healthy and good with the violas I’ve changed my mind. Oh look, a new ivy found it’s way into the bed. Now, how did that happen?!

Backyard Bed

The blanket flower and plumago have finally broken above ground. Everyone has returned from last year. Even the violas and morning glories successfully self-seeded. The russian sage already looks like it’s due for a trim.

Alley Bed

Some deep pink tulips and grape hyacinth are in bloom here. They look wonderful with my  neighbor’s weeping cherry which is also in full bloom. The remaining hosta in this bed is already several inches out of the ground. The snake wort and some asian lilies have caught up with the sedum. I’m pretty geeked about the lilies. I have no idea what color they’ll be. The bulbs were abandoned in a planter left on the front steps of the porch. Miss A helped to give them a more permanent home in this bed.

New Bed!

Yes, that’s right...a new bed. Actually, this one was existing last year, but is very unkempt and full of lanky roses. The two rose bushes seemed to come up healthy at first last year, but then grew sickly looking. It seems to damp and they don’t have enough room. For about ten minutes I tried to carefully extract the plants so I could give them to Mom G. However, near the end, I was using all my strength in trying to bust through the mile-long roots with the shovel. My better half finally yanked five bushes out of the ground. Yes, I thought there were two but there were actually five. Yikes. I filled the bed with new soil from the compost pile and realigned the bricks. It’s now a blank canvas.