No Place Like Home

Every once in awhile I have to visit my hometown in Michigan, St. Joseph. If you are live there, or are familiar with it, you simply call it St. Joe. It's one of my favorite spots on earth.

I'm not sure why hometowns can mean so much to us. Perhaps it's tied up in the precious memories of our youth. But for whatever reason, there's no place like home.

Okay, so that's a cliche. But it doesn't stop it from being true. I'm sure most people are fond of their hometowns. But when your hometown is a charming little tourist beach town, it makes St. Joe even more loveable.

Recently I went back to spend some time with an old friend. I got lucky, the weather was perfect! And it's always wonderful to renew an old friendship.

I spent much of my time just wandering around the park and beaches. I'd read my book for awhile, then stop and just watch the world go by. And my camera was busy capturing everything.

And every night found me sitting at the beach watching the sunset. It's not a bad place to sit and wait, especially when the results turn out like this....

Goodbye St. Joseph Michigan, I'll see again in July!

What's Growing On Out There?

May is such a busy time for the northern gardener. We have lots of preparation and planting to do this time of year, but we are rewarded with the constant arrival of new blossoms. It's an exciting time of year for us! Let's see what's growing on in my garden this month. The lilacs are both in bloom, first the common ones, then the Miss Kim. Both are so very fragrant, but the Miss Kim is way more floriferous! My regular lilac bush is very small and has been for several years. Maybe someday it will grow.

I'm definitely enjoying the blooming of the the Chocolate Chip ajuga by the front walk. Normally it blooms in conjunction with the daffodils I've planted underneath them, and they look nice together. This year, the daffs came and went quickly, so the droopy stems don't really compliment the flowers beneath them.

Columbines are so easy to grow, these red and white ones seed themselves all over the place. The red doesn't really go with everything else in this area, but they don't bloom for long. I tried to remove them last year, but they had other ideas. The purple double columbines would be welcome to spread themselves around, but they don't do that. Figures.

The Kousa dogwood hasn't always been a favorite around here. It doesn't bloom reliably, and never gives me nice fall color. But one doesn't just dig up a healthy tree, so I deal with it. Maybe someday I'll get the nerve to just take it out and replace it. Maybe a Serviceberry would please me more. The bracts are starting to show, so I see it is going to have a good blooming year. But even so, it never blooms as prettily as a standard dogwood.

My alliums have popped up all over the place. I'm pretty sure I planted more this past fall, and I'm glad I did. They are like exclamation points for the garden!

Doublefile viburnum is looking its best this year, and you'd think it was a lacecap hydrangea if you didn't know better.

I particularly like the tapestry under my front dining room window. In this photo, you'll see Jack Frost brunnera, Silver Beacon dead nettle, and Starry Night violas. The dead nettle spreads itself around like crazy, but it's easy to rip out any extras. The brunnera and violas are great at reseeding themselves, but in a mannerly way.

I'm not exactly a hosta fan, and recently dug out a bunch of them to give away. However, there is one hosta that I love, called June. I think it's the only hosta that made me say "Wow" when I first saw it. It looks particularly lovely covered in raindrops.

Heucheras are another plant that most gardeners love, but don't really thrill me. I do have one, and it's the traditional, original, all green model, more commonly known as Coral Bells. This one I approve of, and so do the hummingbirds.  Yes, I know the purple and red are clashing. It's okay, the ajuga blooms will fade away soon.

The first rose to arrive is always Funny Face, a vigorous shrub rose that will bloom like mad all summer. I like that in a rose.

There was a surprise waiting for me out by the clematis lamp post. I wasn't expecting any blooms for awhile yet. Hmmm, seems to be the clematis that I tore out last year and replaced. Guess I didn't get all the roots. Oh well, it can stay. I don't think I could ever separate it from the others anyway. I remember it was called Clair de Lune.

My favorite surprise this week was a beautiful fragrance on the air one morning. I went about my business, wondering what it was when I realized that the iris must be blooming! I hurried to the back yard and found these lovelies. Now that's a real beauty.

See what I mean? There is so much going on out in the garden this time of year. Every day is a wonderful surprise!

I'm in Love

Yes, I'm in love, and you probably are too. Ah spring, my beloved! The weather is no longer moody and unpredictable. We've been in a nice long stretch of warm and sunny days. That alone would be enough to make me fall in love with the month of May. But when the days are warm and sunny, that means the earth is waking in up, and in full color. It's the most beautiful of months.

It's been so nice that I even broke the rules and planted out a few warm season plants, even though we are still a week or so away from the frost free date. They'll be fine, and if not, I can sneak them into the garage overnight if frost threatens.

 The pastel colors of May are seen on every corner, at my house and everywhere I go. I've noticed that as the month wears on, the pastels slowly transform over to the bolder colors of summer.

I know one thing for sure. If we don't get a rainy day sometime soon, my house is never going to get cleaned. I'd rather do garden work over housework anytime!

So yes, I'm in love with the month of May. Honestly, I always have been. I was born in the month of May, not to mention that it is the prettiest month of the year. You really must agree, right?

A Moody Kind of Spring

One minute it's hot, the next it's cold. Welcome to spring in Ohio. Overall, it's been a little colder than usual. But it's hard to compare, because we tend to think about that crazy, warm spring we had last year. That definitely was not the norm. Since I can't depend on the weather to be reliably warm, I make sure to take advantage of the nice days. In other words, housework takes a back seat to yard work and garden exploring. But you know what? That's pretty much always true with me.

Spring is so downright colorful, isn't it? The world blooms in candy colored flowers, with a new sweet surprise showing up every day.

One of my favorite parts of spring is when the fall planted bulbs pop up. Often times, I forget planting them till they appear. And it's always a delightful surprise. I call these checkered lilies, but I know they are really a Fritallaria meleagris.

Pulmonaria saccharata ' Mrs. Moon' is more commonly known as Lungwort. It doesn't make a very big showing, but the spotted foliage and the multicolored flowers make it fun to enjoy. The rest of the summer the foliage fades into decline, but it's small and barely noticeable. 

 I love plants that give me freebies. In other words, plants that seed themselves around are most welcome. Jack Frost brunnera is one of those. I assume they are related to forget-me-nots since they look so similar. Note to self, move this back further into the shade so they don't burn up in late summer as usual. 

 I'll gain more freebies from my hellebores. Seedlings are everywhere this spring, but so tiny that I have no idea which variety is which. I guess I'll find out later on. I'm not sure why this one decided to face up, since most of them face down towards the ground. 

 Of course much of my spring color comes from the addition of candy colored pansies. It's a flower I just can't do without in spring. By spring time, I'm dying to see some color but the frost free date is still too far away for safety. Enter the common pansy, who doesn't mind a bit when the nights get chilly. They just bloom on and on till it gets too hot out. By then, I'll simply swap them out for brightly colored summer annuals. 

 And so it goes. Spring is so easy to love, even though she can be a bit moody. The flowers are ever so welcome after a cold, gray winter, and the green leaves and lawns are a balm for the eyes. Welcome anyway, you moody Miss Spring! 

 

Much to Love

April is a much loved month. I mean, who doesn't love it? The world wakes up from it's winter slumber, and everything is renewed. Green is the color of the day, along with the whites, pinks, purples, and yellows of every flowering plant.

There may be a few chilly days, and some areas may even see the occasional flake of snow. But for the most part, April will be increasingly pleasant as it wears on. It begins to softly warm up day by day. The sun shines more often. And new blooms are an every day affair.

In April, you don't dare miss a single day in the garden. You must at least take a daily walkabout, lest you miss even the smallest new arrival.

Every new blossom is celebrated. My camera is in constant use, because each new flower must be recorded. After all, this blog is mostly meant as a garden journal for me. If I photograph each flower as it arrives, I can more easily compare from year to year.

Yes, there is much to love about April, so take it all in, and enjoy every minute!