Honorable mention -

Absolute gorgeous day with a high of 75.

My white Coreopsis are in bloom, despite the fact the chipmunks keep eating the buds off. I saw one in the Coreopsis bush and scolded him, telling him he was being a very bad boy! When he turned to look at me he had white petals all over the end of his nose, ha, caught in the act! If he hadn't been so darn cute I might have gotten mad.

I can't be certain, but I think this is the same chipmunk who's eating the fruit off my Adams crabapple tree because they are both in the same flowerbed.

This is Punkin on the deck trying to convince me to let her chase the chipmunks. She can't figure out why we let these renegades run amuck in the yard.

The only good thing about the lack of rain is the fact we have NO mosquitoes and can sit on the deck!

This time it's the Astilbes turn -

We are starting to get a few hotter days thrown into the mix; sunny with a high of 87.

The Astilbes have decided it's their turn to get all the attention, and I think it's fair to say, they deserve it. The Astilbes to the left are on the north side of the house in FB #5. There are a total of 7 in this bed.

The Astibles to the right are in the Forest Flower Bed (FFB), and are in the shade 70% of the time. There are a total of 12 in this bed. That means I have 19 Astibles to deadhead in about 30 days. Hey, do I know how to have fun or what?

You can barely see the blue hydrangeas in bloom in the back. After looking at this picture, I can't imagine why I wanted pink hydranges!

Another day, another tree -

Partly sunny but humid, with a high of 82.

We got another tree planted today, this time the Galaxy Magnolia got lucky. While we did hit a lot of rocks, thank goodness they were all reasonably sized, and could be removed. To be on the safe side however, we took the grass out by sections just in case we had to move the hole, something we've had to do in the past.

Shortly after getting the Magnolia planted we got a short rain burst, just like we planned it ;-) We've only received a few days of rain this spring and are going into summer with a deficeit. I think it's going to be a long, hot, dry, summer.

My pink, I mean blue, Hydrangeas are blooming ;-)

Gorgeous day, high of 82. I planted pink Hydrangeas and wanted pink Hydrangeas, what happend?

Most gardeners want blue hydrangeas and usually buy the Nikko blue variety, then go to extra lengths to ensure they get blue with a ph balancing fertilizer. I guess it's the loam and peat moss I used, because I used nothing special.

If I were honest, I would admit I love the blue, even though I didn't think I would. The blue really sets off the pink Astilbes. Some of the Hydrangeas are multi-colored which I also think is very pretty. Also, I'll bet if I tried to duplicate this process in another bed, I'd get different results!

This picture shows one of my multi-colored hydrangeas just "starting" to bloom, which I think is almost prettier than a full headed bloom. This hydrangea obviously loves where it's planted, from the very first this one came up early and set a lot of heads. It gets sun in the afternoon for about 2.5 hours, which isn't what the grower recommended. But it's where I had a spot for one so that's where it went.

It just goes to show flowers are more versatile and forgiving than one would think . . . thank God.

Wow, my very first homegrown fruit -

Sunny and hot with a high of 91.

I guess the heat is good for berries because I picked my first black raspberries this morning. They were pretty good by themselves, but would have been better on ice cream :-)

Another thing, I won't have to worry about the bear coming down and stealing my raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, because the kazillion of chipmunks in my garden will eat them first. The little rascals climb all over the branches and go straight for the ripest ones, how they know which is which is beyond me.

I also took a picture of my blackberry bush which just started to bloom. This shrub gets 6' wide by 8' wide, can you imagine how pretty it must be when it matures and is in full bloom?

Okay, maybe with 2 blackberry bushes that large there may be some berries left over for the bear and me.

Flowerbed #3 is strutting it's stuff!

Nice & sunny today after an overnight rain, high of 83.

Speaking of Stella d'Oros, they are now in bloom and are quite the show-stopper. I have 9 Stella's in the front, and 11 in the back. For this year anyway, the Stella's in back won't need much trimming because they are still young. But I'm betting the front are going to take me 1 full day to deadhead.

If you look at the close up picture, you can see the Goldmound Spirea still in bloom peeking from behind the Stella's. Of course the Sugar Tyme Crabapple and Poukhanense Korean Azaleas have been out of bloom for a few weeks now.

I have to admit that taking the time to work slow-release fertilizer into all of the beds around each and every flower seems to be paying off. This is now my second year of using this approach, and it seems to be working well.

Of course the .75" of rain overnight didn't hurt either. Can you tell yellow is my favorite color?

The Spirea are really putting on a show . . .

Mostly sunny with a few clouds in the morning, high of 78.

The Little Princess Spirea are in full bloom and are quite pretty. Unlike their cousins the Goldmound Sprirea that have turned into monsters in the front, the Little Princess are still very dainty.

Unfortunately, I have 9 of the Goldmound Spirea to cut back in about 30 days, and I don't mind saying I'm not looking forward to the job. But, they are very pretty right now . . . .

The Stella d'Oros are really budding this week so they should be in bloom sometime next week. They too will be a chore to deadhead or cut back, but are also worth the effort.

While I did get 5 cubic yards of premium mulch delivered, I only got about 1/3 of it spread. While most of the front beds are almost entirely without mulch, at least FB#5 now has mulch. I hate to say it, but I'll be lucky to get the rest of the mulch spread this fall in the BFB when we're done planting.

Oh well, as Scarlet would say, "there's always tomorrow", or in my case, "there's always next spring," and with each new spring comes renewed hope for the perpetual gardener.