Spring in Review

Spring has passed into summer, and time has flown. I've been as busy as a bee, and too tired most nights to do much on the computer. With Daylight Saving we tend to stay outside and work in the gardens and yard, and then eat a late supper.

Thanks so much to all for your visits and comments. I so much appreciate hearing from you. I'll try to catch up on my blog reading this week.

I've been trying to sort out some of the hundreds of photos I've taken during the past couple of months....choosing just a few to put on the blog. You can well imagine what a job that is, because a good many of you can relate to being "camera-maniacs"! By the time I've sorted a few days worth I'm beginning to nod off, and too tired to do a post.

Now that school is out and summer vacation has begun (hallelujah!) I'm beginning to get a little more caught up with the gardens, but I still have a few more things to plant. It's a matter of deciding where to put things, and making room for them. The perennials tend to take over, and thinning them is a big job....just one of the many that must be done all at once!

Nothing says spring like lilacs!

It was a good spring for lilacs. Even our big old, straggly bush in the front yard did better than usual.

Ross cut some old, gnarly limbs out of it last year (prune soon after it has finished blooming), and perhaps that helped.

The perfume was really delightful. I spent a lot of time just smelling the blossoms and taking too many photographs :)

This photo and the one above are of the tree in bud. The color is darker and then lightens considerably when the flowers open.

This is a late pink lilac growing in the yard of a friend. It blooms later in June and seemed to last longer than the more common lilacs.

I've had my eye on a late blooming "Miss Canada" lilac that I saw at a local nursery last year (and regretted not buying at the time), but when I went to get it they'd sold the last one that morning. Ah well, I'll just have to wait until next year. However, a dear gardening friend gave me a piece of her McFarlane Pink and that's looking healthy. Another friend has offered pieces of a dark purple, a white, and a double pinkish-purple that's truly magnificent. We have a bank on the lower side of the yard that's the perfect place for a row of lilacs. Three are planted there so far.

Notice in this close-up of the pink blooms, the difference in the shape of the flowers compared to the photo below, which is a flower cluster on our old lilac.

I've never taken notice of the differences previous to this year. I'm developing a real fascination for lilacs.

Along the way to work there's a tree farm that has a nice collection of lilacs. Unfortunately, I didn't stop to take photographs until they were almost finished blooming. This is another late pink, and there were whites just finishing.

I was lucky to catch this lovely yellow swallowtail butterfly as it paused for a couple of seconds.

Remember the pink garden? Those pink tulips with the creeping phlox, and lamium in the background, were such a delight that I just kept taking pictures in all kinds of light. This shot was taken in the late afternoon sunshine.

These iris gave us a brief, but beautiful show. I think the color is magnificent.

We've had a very dry spring, but these two shots were taken after a rain shower left a mist in the early evening air.

These tall purple and white iris gave us many blooms this spring.

So lovely.

A really dark one. Very elegant.

This is "Beverly Sills", the only one I know the name of, with blue centaurea, a perennial cornflower (knapweed). All my iris are passalongs from friends and no names were given, except this one.

This is a very old, common iris that I brought over from Gran's house (which you can see in the first iris picture). I keep threatening to dig them all up and throw them away because they hardly ever bloom, but this year they did better. They need thinning, but they're not on my high priority list, so the job never gets done!

These happy little pansies came back from last year and were very welcome early bloomers.

The lovely lupins are always a delight, but mine were not very prolific this year. They loved all the rain we had last spring, and the blooms lasted for a much longer period. Unfortunately, the dry weather is causing a lot of flowers to cut their bloom period short.

My nice patch of Dame's Rocket sprang up on the edge of the vegetable garden by the wood pile again. I love this pretty wildflower. It has a wonderful scent to add to its charm.

We saw huge patches of it growing along the roadsides on the drive to Ithaca for Kylie and Ko's wedding reception, and then again when we visited the Cornell Plantations while we were in Ithaca. It was gloriously spread all over the hillsides. Yes, I took photos at the Plantations, and hope to have time to post some of them in the near future!

Red Columbine (Aquilegia)

This lupin is usually covered with blooms, but not so this year. The view it still lovely though.

The Verbascum also bloomed sparsely and very briefly. I deadheaded it today in the hope of getting a second bloom later in the summer.

The Carnaby Clematis blooms at the beginning of June. I'll have more photos of it later on, and the little trellis that Ross made. He's made another, bigger one since, for the sweet peas that grow next to the clematis.

The lovely Foxglove (Digitalis) is one plant that blooms well in spite of the dry weather.

I put these lovely bright orange pansies in a pot. The slugs just love to eat my pansies and I couldn't bear to let them chew these up. I've been trying wood ashes around plants to keep slugs away, and it seems to work quite well.

This Nemesia is called "Mango" and it's just one of the many plants I fell in love with at my favorite nursery. It's looking very colorful now in a mixed container, which I'll show you later. This is just the first installment of my Spring in Review. The peonies are just finishing up, the Sweet William is blooming beautifully, daisies are smiling brightly, and all is well with the world! It's such a joy to feel the warmth of the sun on our backs and breathe the fresh air!

While we're experiencing a dry period here in NY, I hear they're getting much-needed rain in Australia, which may break the 10 year long drought. That's very good news indeed. However, some areas are experiencing terrible flooding. It truly is "The Land of Droughts and Flooding Rains".

Happy Summer everyone!

Oh, unless you're on the other side of the Equator, and if so, I hope your winter will be mild!