Perennials

My flower garden is moving along through its seasons. The lilies I posted a picture of earlier this summer, when they were just starting to bloom, bloomed big and beautifully - but I forgot to take a picture then.

The yellow flowers bloomed well, too, and still look great:


The thistle-like perennial I got from a neighbor has purple flowers on it now:



And these poker-like flowers have been blooming a long while, too:


I really need to get my flower book out and try to remember what these plants were! These were all shared by generous gardeners, so I've promptly forgotten what they said they were giving me.

More Flowers

Some flowers in my perennial garden are blooming. Take a look at the lilies my sister-in-law gave me as transplants last fall!



These ones were transplants from a neighbor. I'm not quite sure what they are anymore!



And I planted some parsley seeds in there for good measure, and they're coming up, too.



I never did get annuals planted in my flower garden, but if I just put down more mulch, it will look alright. And it will help keep the weeds down.

Flowers for the Porch

I finally got matching hanging baskets for my front porch (well, I did the best I could as far as the size). I don't know why I was so slow to get around to it this year. Being able to hang two baskets of flowers on a porch is one of the biggest treats of living in this house. I've admired that kind of thing for years and finally got it when we moved in last spring and my husband put up hooks.

Color Change

The tulips that were a light, dusty pink have gotten a striped effect:



I really like it. And the tulips that started out rather yellow have gotten white, thank goodness.

I wish I could really capture the striped look that they have from afar. I do believe one of the hazards of blogging is that you start to wish for a better camera. I've heard that from two other bloggers, and I'm there now myself. And I have never been interested in photography before.

Discoveries

I went out today to take pictures of the turtles that like to sit on the old fence posts that hang over our pond. There were three in a row on one post, but they were worried about me, so I didn't get a picture of all of them. They dropped into the water one at a time, before I could get very close.




On my way there, I discovered what I think must be wild strawberries:



Don't they look like strawberry plants? Tell if you don't think so. But I know wild strawberries can grow around here. I love discovering things like this.

Then on my way back, what do I find? A big cluster of violets!


I love spring.

I went looking for wild asparagus next, but no luck. I did find something I couldn't identify. The leaves and stems look a little bit like rhubarb when it first comes up, but it had little daisy-like flowers. Any ideas?

Tulips

My tulips are blooming!





I adore tulips, so I'm thrilled.

I actually put my flower garden over the septic tank, to try to beautify that part of the yard and cover up all those little white posts. The benefit of it is that some of my plants came up and bloomed early from the warmth underneath! My other tulips are in a colder spot within the same garden, and they're not close to blooming yet.

I weeded that whole garden yesterday, removed the dead stems from last fall, planted herb and flower seeds, and spread mulch. I'll need a little more mulch, but it looks much better.



All of the other perennials are coming up now. I'm sorry to say that I don't even remember what some of them are!

Hope Springs Eternal

The weather's getting warmer; the snow's going to melt this weekend, at least for the time being. And I'm getting excited to see what my flower garden will do this spring. Right now it looks like dead weeds sticking up out of the snow, because I didn't trim down the transplanted perennials last fall. I hope, I really hope, that I'll have tulips and peonies and lilies and coneflowers and a variety of other flowers (or at least plants) coming up this spring.