I realize these pictures are long overdue from when I promised them! Sorry, but life kind of takes over sometimes. Things are really springing up now since we've had some torrential rains and the heat has kicked on. Some of the flowers I passed over when I was photographing, since the wind and rain gave them a rather disheveled appearance that I've been unable to address.
This is my summer perennial garden in the back of the house. Everything's growing, but so far these yellow flowers are the only ones to show their colors. (I forget the name)
The rhododendrom had a little bit of a rough start when the weather warmed dramatically in the late winter. They actually put out a nearly full set of leaves at that time, but then the weather got cold again, that foliage was killed. Now there is one small bloom that is nearly ready to pop open.
My perennial herbs - oregano, catnip, and lemon balm are just going crazy. I've actually already cut them back twice this year - each time removing about 8 inches.
I started quite a few seeds for my zucchinis, but I think my voles ate more than a few. I've been waging a war on them that I think I am actually winning, at least in the vicinity of the vegetable garden. I replanted a few more seeds to replace those zucchini and this second set is already growing strong. Can't wait for the zucchini bread!
I'm not a hug vegetable fan, so I didn't really know what else to fill my garden. I thought I'd give corn a try. Here are a few plants that survived the voles. I will need to reseed and see if they will come up and become knee-high by the Fourth of July!
This new perennial garden has established itself. There are still a few blooms to come, hopefully.
The astilbes just bloomed this weekend. I now have them in two spots in the yard. Here they're pictured in my relatively new shade perennial garden. I think they look really pretty against the darker stone wall.
Hostas also fill the area. They came back nicely after being planting late in the season last year. Mom also donated a few earlier this year. I also have a few plants whose names I forget and Lily of the Valley planted among the hostas and astilbes.
In front of the garage I had planted Russian Sage last year and that has returned very well this year. In bloom are the hybrid lillies (above), and my daylillies are just making an appearance today (below). My Rose of Sharon needs to work a little harder to grow taller than those daylillies.
To the left of the front door is an overflowing garden. This is one area that I'll need to tame down a little bit. I had rearranged a few plants at the end of the season and it appears I didn't do it quite to my liking, unfortunately.
The roses just put out a full set of blooms but the wind kind of blew them apart the other day. You can't see it, but the third plant behind these two in front really has some pathetic flowers, so I may take that bush out. It has always fallen behind the pack, but I hoped I could get it going again. I don't think it was meant to be.
And so far, one of my bigger disappointments - the fig tree. You can see that it has started to show some regrowth, but it's not at all in the appropriate places - like its limbs. I have no idea what I did to cause such a dramatic regrowth. I won't hold my breath, but I'll try to be more patient to see what it plans to do. It only just started this growth last week, so the weather had not been ideal for it up until that point. Luckily, I've got three additional fig trees that I had overwintered in the garage and are still in pots on my patio. I may consider planting one of those if the current tree doesn't cut it.
