The Garden in Early May

In some respects, the garden seems to have been holding its breath and waiting for the right moment. The first days of mid-May were hot and sunny, but there wasn't much in the way of rain. 

Then on Monday night, we had a late evening thunderstorm, followed by a heavy downpour. The rain continued through the night and into the next day.

Now all of a sudden, it seems that everything is richly green. Tentative leaves have shy no more! The hosta which have been holding themselves in reserve; their leaves stiffly upright, have relaxed and unfurled. 

The black flies seem to have eased, but now carnivorous brown mosquitoes patrol the flowerbeds in their stead.

My favourite thing of the moment is this birdbath by the back door. The play of textures 

never fails to delight me.

Rose Mossy Saxifrage, saxifraga x arendsii rose selection

Though it seems that the garden has been holding back, the procession of spring bulbs seems to have sped by at hyper speed. I had loads and loads of the prettiest all-white daffodils. Do you think I got a chance to take a single picture? No, not a blessed bloody one!

Even these white tulips by the back gate blew fully open before I had a chance to snap a picture of them.

Virginia Blue Bells

Generally speaking, I stuck with the color scheme I devised for my bulbs last fall: red and yellow bulbs at the front of the house, white just inside the back gate, a variety of pinks, white and yellow in the main part of the backyard and yellow, white and mauve in the circle garden at the very back.

But as you can see here I messed up a bit and planted some of the mauve tulips in with the pinks. 

Oh well, I guess I'll have to fix this odd mix of colors for next spring.

Euphorbia Polychroma

Love the deep red of these primroses.

The garden at the very back of the yard.

Ostrich Ferns

That's a Buddha in the background meditating under the shade his red umbrella (Japanese Maple).

I have more of these dark maroon geraniums that I know what to do with! 

They are all just starting to flower.

Our crabapple looked glorious for a few days, but now the rains have carried 

off all the sweetly fragrant flowers.

There are many more pictures, but I will spare your patience and save them for another post.