More scenes from the garden

Still more garden pictures. It changes every day, and in a month or so all there'll be is foliage (except maybe for the roses).

This would be pretty if it weren't for the overgrown grass and branches... From the right, german iris, salvia, wave petunias, and dusty miller. You can't really see them in this picture, but there are some siberian iris and a neon-red rose bush in here, both with buds. The dusty miller is planted over tulips, and I find myself wishing that the darn tulip leaves would hurry up and brown off, so I can have a cool silver sea at the foot of the birdbath.

I need to take a picture of this hosta with one of the dogs sitting beside it or something--I don't think any of the pictures really give an idea of how BIG this thing is. I measured one of the leaves more or less at random, and it was 15" long and 10" wide. Just the one leaf!

These are the hosta I'm going to have planted around the dogs' potty place out front. I keep some water in the bags to keep the roots moist, and they're holding up pretty well, I think. I'm so excited--I hope they look as good in person as they do in my head once they're planted.


These are the columbine on the other side of the dusty miller in the driveway bed. They're not actually that purple--more like maroon. Behind them are the magenta spiderwort; the flowers aren't open in the evening. I noticed this evening that the blue spiderwort beside the house is blooming. I like it much better than the magenta, so of course instead of being all spready and weedy, it's just sitting there all mannerly and demure behind the catmint (which is also blooming). I'll try to get a picture of it.

Auguste Renoir in spring glory. I have enough flowers to cut for a vase, but I hate to cut even on. Maybe if I had a dozen bushes, I could bear to cut a few to put in a vase.

I'm a little concerned that the clematis that should be covering that wooden "fence" there in front is only about halfway along. I think maybe next spring I'll try not pruning it. Although the other jackmani is about 8 feet tall and thinking about making buds, and I cut it back at the same time I did this one. Maybe I need to get meaner with the Russian sage. Well, for now I'll just keep an eye on it and see how it does.


Auguste Renoir from behind. That's lavender in the foreground; if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see it's budding and will be blooming soon. And at the very right edge you can see a bud of Othello. I hope there's one day where both roses and the lavender are all blooming at once--that'll be a glorious picture.

My honey-boy and his new ball.