Spring Makes a Quick Turn Into Summer

May is hands down the busiest month of the year in the garden. It's also the most delightful! There are so many new flowers coming into bloom that I'm forever photographing them all. With all these lovely blooms to share, you'd think I would have posted more frequently. Instead, the opposite was true. I was so busy planting everything that I couldn't begin to think of putting up a blog post. And when I finally went to do so, I found myself quite overwhelmed with photographs. But here I am finally trying to catch up with Life in Robin's Nest. I hope you think it was worth the wait.

Remember when we all thought that spring would never warm up? Well, it did. The cliches often say that we'd skip right over spring and move directly into summer, and that assessment wasn't very far off here in central Ohio. Our last frost was back in April, so I planted my containers early this year. While I have plenty of ground plantings, I find summer containers to be one of my favorite ways to garden.

Despite the current warm weather, we still started out the month of May with tulips. Normally they'd peak a couple weeks earlier, but were delayed by April's chill. The good part is that the chill made the blooms last extra long.

Next came all the other spring favorites, lilacs, columbines, redbuds, crabapples, and one of my personal favorite blooming trees, Chinese fringe tree. All the spring color made me almost giddy!

But the spring pastels quickly gave way to summer's more vibrant colors. I think this photo of my front walk illustrates that very point. Yes, that colorful pot on the front porch is a little jarring mixed with all the pastels around it. I fell victim to its glorious color combination while at the nursery, but when I got it home, I couldn't figure out how to make it work. The verdict is still out. When it comes to bright colors, I try to limit them to my back patio, while keeping the front a bit more subdued. I'm not always successful, because I dearly love bright colors.

And so here we are on Memorial Day weekend, when the summer season has its unofficial start. My garden is growing rapidly, and I'm already in summer mode, where I spend long hours outdoors enjoying it all. It's the season I wait for all year long!

Spring, Please Stay!

Like so much of the country, our spring has been quite temperamental this year. I didn't think it would ever get here! I'm sure you thought the same thing where you are. But here in Central Ohio, the worst is finally behind us. We're not past the frost free date yet, but almost. I think I can make it now. Whew!

Despite the frequent return of winter weather, spring flowers slowly appeared. The earliest bulbs wore snow hats several times, but then shrugged it off and continued on. One good part of a chilly spring is that the blooms lasted much longer. My first daffodil showed up at the end of March, and it was nearly a month before it finally faded away. The early daffs are gone now, but the late ones have arrived in their place. You just have to love their sunny faces.

I do have some miscellaneous bulbs out there, and they bring me joy regardless of their small size. I especially like these charming checkered lilies. Nature is amazing sometimes. How does it "print" this checkered pattern on these flowers?

At my house, tulips are the queen of the spring bulbs. I anxiously await their arrival each year. I'm so glad that I got a few nice pictures of these first tulips, as some nasty deer came along and ate them up! Grrrrr. I hurried out to spray the rest of them with stinky Liquid Fence, as there were many other tulips just about to pop open. I would have been devastated to lose them all.

I'm sure you've seen sedum Angelina here on my blog many times. Since I have such a sunny garden, it's a good fit for me. I have it everywhere. I've always called it enthusiastic, and not invasive, since it's easy to remove. But I'm beginning to wonder if invasive might be a better description, as it's trying to take over many parts of my garden. I have some work ahead of me to rein it in. I have to admit that spring is the main reason I grow this particular sedum. It turns into shades of yellow, orange, and red, right when your winter weary eyes need some color. And it looks lovely underplanted with early spring bulbs. Look back at the other photos on this post, and you'll see it featured several times.

Most of the spring garden is focused on bulbs, but there are a few highlights that do not come from bulbs.

I am inordinately fond of spring flowering trees, and this is where it all starts. Soon there will be redbuds, then crabapples. Those are my real favorites.

If I haven't told you lately, I am pleased and honored to have you here reading my blog. I started keeping it about ten years ago, as a way to journal what is blooming on any given day. In that time, blogs have gotten very popular, then faded somewhat as other forms of social media took over. I still like to keep track of what's happening in my garden each year, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm wasting my time. Blog comments have steeply declined, and I don't really know how many others are here reading. In case I decide to discontinue blogging, please take a minute to follow me on Instagram or Facebook, so we don't lose touch. For me, it's my photography in particular that I like to share, so that's why I've stuck with it. And if you still enjoy the blog format, by all means, feel free to add your comments. Most of all, I like to share thoughts and ideas with all of you here in Robin's Nest!