This Week in the Garden

This week in the garden is my attempt to show the new blooms of that previous week. Looking back to the second week in May, there was a lot going on… Spring was in full bloom and many plants were at their peak this week. I’ll start in the front and move around the side to the back.

Front Yard

May was a great month for the azaleas, even though some of them were probably a little late this year due to the longer, colder winter. The Spanish Bluebells were also at their height around the first two weeks of May, and were joined by a few pink Bluebells (Hyacinthoides Hispanica).

Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides Hispanica)

Mixed in throughout the garden are another little pink flower, a “Biedermeier” Columbine.

Pink Columbine

Putting on quite a show by the mail box was this Clematis, which sadly only had these gorgeous blooms for about two weeks.

Clematis

And I was happy to see these graceful blossoms on the Rainbow Leucothoe.

Flowering Rainbow Leucothoe

Going around the side of the yard…

Side Yard

Mmm, don’t all the different shades of green and textures look good? The creator of this garden really had an eye for form I think.

Around the side of the house, on the back, there’s another Azalea blooming under the Eglantyne rose, and amongst a hosta and some painted ferns. I think it may be “Ben Morrison”.

Pink Azalea – Ben Morrison?

Under the deck, there’s a planter with three different shades of “Biedermeier” Columbines.

Three Different Colored Columbines

It’s a little difficult to tell, but the “top” columbine in the picture is a very light shade of pink, and the middle is white. I had several different colors bloom this spring, ranging from a deep dark purple to lighter purples to red to shades of pinks and white. And they wonderfully keep their showy flowers for a very long time!

Over in the veggie garden, a climbing rose has been blooming for a month now, since early May. This pretty variety is “Fourth of July”.

Fourth of July Rose

The blossoms vary, and some have more pink/red and others have more of the variegation. I know this will bloom again in the fall as I remember seeing blossoms on it quite late in the year last year.

Going behind the house, at the base of the steps to the deck I found some flowering vinca.

Flowering Vinca

The vinca started flowering a few weeks earlier, but only put out a few blossoms here and there. There is quite a bit of vinca on the steepest part of the hill.

At the end of the driveway, along the side, there is still one azalea blooming, a showy purple and white.

Purple and White Azalea

Continuing around, a view of the backyard from the path.

Backyard from Driveway

Spring really was an explosion of color and beauty. Here’s a view of the hill looking back to the path we just came down. You can see a few more spanish bluebells at the bast of the azalea in the island too.

Azaleas on the hill

More azaleas around the bench.

Flowering Azaleas

I actually have tags for a number of these and can figure out which varieties they are. Ever since I started going through the box, I’ve been looking forward to seeing what would still come up- and was very happy to find the Golden Chain Tree when it started blooming this week.