Despite what seemed like a lot of cool gray days and 6.21 inches of rain, the garden has been glorious for most of May. One last look before we turn the page to June.
Paeonia 'Nosegay' is a beauty inside and out (above and below). Not much fragrance but she still makes me swoon.
Geranium macrorrhizum 'Spessart' just started to bloom.
The foliage of Clematis alpina 'Stolwijk Gold' is shockingly bright.
Its blue flowers with a creamy yellow center make for one of the more dramatic moments in the garden.
I've taken clumps off the edges of this Trillium grandiflorum over the years and they all were star performers this spring.
Our 'Tina' crabapple. After I took this photo, Mark came along and cleaned up and raked the gravel.
Tiarella cordifolia 'Running Tapestry' has been in my garden since 1998. It is one of the few Tiarellas that is a running variety and will make significant patches of flowers without being invasive in any way.
Primula japonica 'Apple Blossom'
Primula japonica
I am trying to take more wide views of the garden beds as well as close-ups so I can remember if there are any holes or problems to remedy as the season progresses.
I always think I will remember where ephemerals are planted and it is not true! This is one corner of The Sacred Grove.
Across the path is the other half of the Grove. The black hole is a new Cotinus with a dark ceramic pot sitting on a tree stump behind it.
The photo below shows the view to the right of the Digitalis in the photo above.
The Wild Time Garden is a mass of Geranium macrorrhizum just beginning to bloom. I intended to call this area the "Wild Thyme Banke" in a nod to Shakespeare; but its name was changed when I realized people tended to throw their beer cans or McDonald's debris out their car windows into the Geraniums.
With the beer cans flying, you could still call it "Wild Thyme" (LOL). Beautiful pics, as always.
Posted by: Stephanie O'Neal | Friday, May 31, 2019 at 06:55 AM
Lovely! I need to look for that Tiarella...it would come in handy in my shady perennial bed. And how I wish we could get primrose to work here. Yours is beautiful! Jim is especially fond of them, and they worked in PA. Oh well...such is the gardening life.
Posted by: Kristin | Friday, May 31, 2019 at 07:12 AM
There's always so much to love in your garden but spring is such a welcome relief from winter's stark beauty and / or messy look. I did not know about the running tiarella. Mine is only visible in early spring before the rampant hardy begonia takes over hiding much from view.
Posted by: Barbara H. | Friday, May 31, 2019 at 08:01 AM
Still chuckling over the Wild Time bed. Clematis alpina 'Stolwijk Gold' is gorgeous!
Posted by: Peter/Outlaw | Friday, May 31, 2019 at 08:53 AM
Everything seems to happen so quickly in your climate. One minute there is snow and then, wham, there is a garden that has exploded into life. It all looks so fresh and utterly gorgeous!
Posted by: rusty duck | Friday, May 31, 2019 at 12:36 PM
The gold clematis is brilliant. Your garden is rockin' now. I love that tiarella the way it is creeping along the log. I would like to find a spot in my garden where it would flourish. May has been good to us.
Posted by: Lisa at Greenbow | Friday, May 31, 2019 at 01:24 PM
That's true to some extent, but perceptions this year may be skewed by the late snow that arrived when some of Linda's peonies were already blooming!
Posted by: Nell | Friday, May 31, 2019 at 02:08 PM
The blush on that peony is beautiful. Your whole garden looks absolutely wonderful, Linda. As to the garbage-throwing passers-by, how rude!
Posted by: Kris P | Friday, May 31, 2019 at 02:31 PM
Nell is right. From the end of winter to the first new growth always seems slow. But once spring takes off — especially with enough rain and cooler temps — it really moves. Seems like things are opening hourly.
Posted by: Linda from Each Little World | Saturday, June 01, 2019 at 07:03 AM
The rain has been a big problem for farmers but great for the garden.
Posted by: Linda from Each Little World | Saturday, June 01, 2019 at 07:04 AM
I am on my third attempt to grow a hardy Begonia. It made it through the winter of 2017/18 but I have not seen it yet. Nothing impressive about it yet. The Tiarella has it beat by a long shot!
Posted by: Linda from Each Little World | Saturday, June 01, 2019 at 11:17 AM
My street has houses set back from the road and looks very country-like with its big trees. But it is the street that links two major roads and gets a lot of traffic. I don't think drivers think about it being residential. They're hurrying to the other road and just randomly toss things out. Maybe my front garden really just looks like an uninhabited woods to them!
Posted by: Linda from Each Little World | Saturday, June 01, 2019 at 11:25 AM