May in the Garden

 I have a particular fondness for the month of May, mostly because it's my birthday month. But the other thing that makes May special is that I can finally plant the garden. Once the frost free date passes by, I begin to go crazy planting flowers. Sure, many people plant flowers in May. But it's likely that they don't plant as many as this crazy flower fanatic! I firmly believe there's no such thing as too many flowers. 

But here we are at the end of May, and most everything is now planted. The only thing left to plant are the caladiums, which don't go in until early June. It's Memorial Day weekend, and we just spent the day putting down mulch. It's our traditional Memorial Day activity! Some people have BBQ's, we do mulch. 

At the beginning of May, there are still a few tulips in the garden. 

In order to get the full tulip immersion, I took a little trip up to Michigan for the Tulip Time Festival in Holland. I stay in my hometown, about a hour south of Holland, so I can see old friends and visit the beach. Generally, it's chilly for the tulip festival, but this year, it was HOT! It made my beach sunset time more pleasant, but it put a damper on the full enjoyment of admiring the tulips. Nobody expects it to be 87, in Holland Michigan, in early May. Whew!

There's also a botanical garden in the area that was a favorite of my grandmother, Fernwood Botanical Garden. It has many interesting garden areas, but the part I like best is the primrose ravine. They always bloom at the exact same time as the tulips. It's just one of those places that would be easy to miss, but once you find it, it's magical. This ravine is just filled with them, where ever you look. It's quiet there, with only birds singing and water trickling. It's just so peaceful and lovely. You really need to see it in person, photos don't do it justice. 

Back home to my own garden, it was time to get busy planting. It takes me several weekends to get it all in order. I don't mind, it's one of my favorite garden chores, to plant out my containers. You see, I plan them out in advance, choosing first a color theme, and then the plants. It's fun to see my vision come to life, even if they need a few weeks to fill in. 

After my tulips fade, the iris begin to show up. They're just such show offs! 

After the iris, the roses start to show off too. 

Luckily, many of my favorite flowers just show up year after year without much help from me.

Thanks for stopping by my nest in the merry month of May, which is so full of flowers that it just makes my heart sing. Ending as usual with a sunset, although I've been remiss at catching them off the front porch. I have to admit, by the time the sun sets, I'm usually lounging in my easy chair, worn out from gardening, with little desire to get back up to take more photos. But this time, I did. Hope to see you back here next month! 

 

April Smiles in the Nest

 April is such a happy month in the garden of Robin's Nest. It's a time when flowers pop up constantly, while the blooms start getting bigger and bolder than the early ones. 

The weather has been rainy and slightly cool, so trying to get the garden ready for planting has been a challenge. I've been grabbing small bits of time whenever I could, so when last weekend turned summery, we worked hard doing prep work. But for a gardener, yard work is actually enjoyable. The summery weather didn't last though, and today we got rained out from our usual Saturday yard work. Darn it! 

We're coming on the frost free date here in central Ohio. The "official" date is listed as May 15, but I generally plant the second weekend of May regardless. Because I buy so many different annuals for planting, it takes me awhile to gather everything I need, so I start buying plants before it's safe to actually plant them. Little by little, my sunny kitchen fills with plants! But meanwhile, the spring plants are outside blooming away, vying for my attention, which I gladly give. 

Sometimes I could swear that April is just a time for garden eye candy. 

The flowering trees are in glorious bloom in central Ohio. I have a few of these bloomers, but it just isn't enough. 

And then there are the tulips, the queens of my spring garden. I don't know why I am so crazy about tulips,  but they make my flower-loving heart sing the song of spring. I wish they would reliably return to my garden each spring, but since they don't, I have to replant every autumn. It's not an easy chore, but worth every moment, for me anyway. 

I was "hired" to make the two blankets below, so I didn't get to keep these. But as usual, I had fun making them. And I didn't catch but one sunset all month. In the spring, the sun sets in an awkward spot, and it's hard to catch. Soon it will swing around to my front porch, and I'll take more sunset shots again.

Thanks for stopping by Robin's Nest! I appreciate all of you.