It's been a long time since I did a blog post! Sometimes, it's hard to find time, and sometimes I struggle with motivation. There always seem to be a lot of things on my to-do list, and blogging tends to get pushed to the bottom of the list because many other things are more important.
I do want to share some garden photos though, mostly for my mother. Unfortunately, my parents are no longer able to visit me. I visit them once a month, but my dad no longer drives, and he's not comfortable leaving home any more. He was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment near the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, and that has progressed to dementia, which is now quite significant. He's very easily confused and disoriented, and can sometimes be rather difficult to communicate with. My mother is his full-time caregiver, although she has accepted a little bit of help from a companion service that comes twice a week for 3 hours. It's a difficult time for all of us, and it makes me sad that they can no longer visit and enjoy some time 'in the country' where I live. So instead, I will share some photos and try to show how things are looking in the garden.
This year, and last year, I have some garden help from a student who is studying at the local university. It has been wonderful to have another pair of hands to help me with some of the bigger tasks, and it means that the perennial beds are looking really great compared to how they looked in the past. My helper also shares my interest in all creatures - birds, insects, spiders, etc. Sometimes he's able to alert me to something in the yard and I rush out to take a few photos before rushing back to my work desk.
The tulips have been lovely this spring and some are still going strong. Here's a little mining bee in one of my red tulips.
I have a random assortment of tulip colours through the spring in my various perennial beds, in part because I bought a mixed assortment and planted them throughout. Sometimes I feel I should group them by colour.
This pink tulip is especially lovely. In the background to the left, you can see the foliage of one of the columbine plants that I started from seed last year. They aren't flowering yet.
This lovely red and white striped tulip is a stunning addition to the tulip assortment.
I'm also really fond of these deep burgundy tulips interplanted with white ones. They are a lovely contrast.
The tiarella has lovely delicate flowers on it at this time of year. I also like the 2-colour leaves.
My "Jack Frost" brunnera does extremely well in my partial shade garden. It has fewer of the tiny blue flowers on it this year, but I really love it for the leaves.
Out in the rock garden area, I recently added a yellow primrose from my mother's garden. I hope it will do well in this spot. It is sharing space with purple irises. I moved the irises last year and they seem to be doing much better this year, with several having flower stems developing. In past years, I've only ever had one with blooms on it. In the front of this bed are some sheep fescue grass that I started from seed and a small clump of Japanese forest grass. It does extremely well in my mother's garden but is very slow to develop in mine.
I have lots of things coming along in this garden bed - big poppy flower heads are about to open, alliums are out right now, and the geums (some of which came from my mother's garden) are putting on a fantastic show.
Last fall I planted some anemone corms and one has come up and is just starting to flower this year. I can see that a nasturtium from my planters last year managed to self-seed into my garden bed here!
This perennial was new last year....I am afraid I cannot remember what it's called. I'm pretty sure my mother has one though, so I'm hoping she knows!
Here are some foxgloves putting on their flower stems, with climbing hydrangea in the rear and smoe cranesbill geranium in left front.
The geums are fantastic at this time of year. I wish their blooming period was longer. I love that warm orange glow.
They also look really good next to the centaurea (bachelor's button) - I like the contrast of the orange with the purplish-blue. This year I found a yellow geum that I've planted in the hopes that it will also thrive in this part of the garden.
Here you can see lots of clumps of Stella d'oro daylily that will soon be starting to put on a show.
I have a number of different cranesbill geraniums and I added this one last year which is called "Boom Chocolatta" and has much darker foliage than the usual. I thought it would add some nice contrast.
I have some lovely tall alliums blooming, and you can see some of the stems of flowers on the irises alongside them. Sadly I lost my big climbing rose this year....I'm not sure why because it has weathered all the previous 10 winters I've lived here and this past one wasn't particularly bad. I have to dig itu p and decide what to put there instead. Maybe a new clematis instead. The other climbing rose is still fine and shown in the rear right of this photo.
The little violas, many of which came from my mother's garden, are putting on a wonderful display.
More irises with bloom stems coming.
I do like variegated plants in my yard - here are two variegated hostas flanking a variegated orpine (sedum) plant. All three were new last year. Another grown-from-seed columbine on the left.
This Japanese painted fern came from my mother as well. It doesn't get as big as hers (and yes, I do fertilize it!) but it still carries on.
A limelight fern that also seems to do well in my shade garden.
I hope you've enjoyed a bit of a garden tour!
