Wisteria

 Years ago (5? 6? more??) a friend working at a garden center gave us a wisteria at the end of the season. Apparently, wisteria is known for being rather agressive, so the recommendation is to actively deadhead to prevent seeds from spreading. 

Our wisteria, however, for years grew only leaves; I figured it was maybe just too cold of a climate for it to truly thrive here, and was content with that - it is filling up a dead corner of the shed very nicely.

But THIS spring, we've got buds! And they're starting to open! I'm both really excited for how pretty it's going to be and also a little apprehensive - will we be able to stay on top of it?? I hope so!

And, speaking of the shed, the peonies are blooming beautifully - one of my favorite times is when those big, exuberant, old-fashioned peonies sparkle against the old, faded shed.

Plant sale at the neighbors'

The little girls helped me dig, split, and pot up a variety of plants from around the yard to add to our neighbors' plant sale, and over the course of two days, they made more than $400!!! And that's just our plants! Sylv and Sam did just as well, if not better.

They worked really hard with the digging and keeping everything watered and bringing it all over...and they were out there on the driveway for every hour the sale was on...and then they helped me load it all back into Owen's truck to bring back home this afternoon! We also got to keep the things that Sylv and Sam don't want to take up space keeping for next year, so here's looking at even bigger profits in 2021! My budding small business owners!

Even Ebenezer is tall enough to help load the littler pots into the back of the truck. We have ALL appreciated Owen's truck!

New blooms in great-grandpa's garden

Last year the lilies Great-Grandpa shared with me came up, but weren't sturdy enough yet to bloom.

This year, however, we're going to get a decent showing, and I finally get to see what color they are!

From the looks of it, they're going to be a beautiful deep pinkish corally red.

Garden help

With a week long visit from my parents' friend from Wisconsin, we were able to get the front garden by the driveways weeded and mulched (with a thick layer of newspaper - free and ugly - and a thin layer of Menards' cheapest mulch), despite my being 36 weeks pregnant.

The girls were often swirling around nearby, and I was grateful for Rinnah's help throwing a few more annuals into the gap at the bottom that's just a little too close to the salt and the plow to be good for much. I've still got to figure out which perennials will be good down there.

I also gained a few plants (down here all sedum) from our neighbors who are moving and wanted a place to stash some perennials until they find a new place. Even better, she planted them for me, since the ground is a long way down these days! The sharing is definitely part of the fun of a garden.

Great-grandpa's garden

The day after the blizzard...

It looks a little different out there in the yard this year than it did a year ago yesterday!

 or a year ago today!

A surprise

For some reason I thought lupines needed two seasons to bloom. Apparently this one didn't get the message:

What a fun surprise to find in "Great-Grandpa's Garden"!

What's blooming now?

A new addition to the gardens this year - a gift from my grandpa - bits and pieces from his flower garden, in the form of giant allium bulbs, garlic starts, and a variety of perennial seeds. I have wanted giant allium for years, but it's hard to justify spending too much money on the gardens when I have so much plant material already, and so often get new things from friends who are splitting things, so I prefer the challenge of waiting to see what comes. That makes these even more delightful!

Also blooming at this time of year is the impossible-to-get-rid-of-once-established periwinkle...though it's so beautiful this time of year that it's hard to imagine really ever wanting to get rid of it! And on the right, a bounty of blossoms on just one branch of just one of our new blueberry bushes. We're excited to nibble and bake this summer!

In the front garden by the curve of the driveway, I have one volunteer wild columbine, and a single Japanese peony blossom. In the background, you can see the traditional peonies beginning to form their buds.

And back along the west edge of the yard, my larger clump of fern-leaf peonies is very, very happy. You can't even tell that Sam and Sylv dug some up last year to move into their yard!

So, that's a taste of what's blooming this mid-May day in our Motley Garden.

A bit of height

Thanks to another end-of-the-season clearing out find of Sam's, I've now got a vertical element in the sprawling front garden. When Matt and I first began this garden soon after we were married, there was a crab apple tree in this location, under which the grass did not grow, thus our decision to turn it into a shade garden. That crab is long gone, long enough that the stump was completely rotted and very easy to turn into the dirt to make room for something new.

Thank you, Sam, for thinking of us, and finding something fun to anchor the center of this garden again!