an intro pro!

 Late May is the best.

It's finally PEONY TIME.

Did I trim back the sprawling plants around the peonies to give them room to grow?  Nope.  Did I remember to put peony rings around the different plants to help with the flop?  Nope!  Which means that the ones on the edges that droop dangerously close to the ground are mine.

The air is perfumed for one glorious week.  Windows open and bouquets in every room.  Ahhh...peony time.

Foxgloves are popping up, too.

I have many of them growing in my weedy plots by the back barn.  I'll get there eventually, but not yet. Since foxgloves are toxic, I don't dare bring them into the house with my curious kittens.  So I leave them in the field, something pretty to look at when we walk by.

I don't feel the same pressure as last year to get everything cleared out so quickly, even though I've got so many flowers struggling amid the weeds.  These foxgloves...

those yellow flowers?  weeds.

...and the biennial sweet williams that I planted everywhere last year, too.

Mountain mint, anise hyssop, bupleurum, poppies, forget-me-nots, orlaya, and yes, more foxgloves are all blooming amid the weeds.

I'll get there...eventually.  I'm plugging away at the beds around the house, with Todd's help.

...and Claudia's, of course!

Meanwhile, enjoying the wildlife outside.  A possum runs through a rain storm, heading to cover behind the fence...

Barn swallows fret as I walk too near their nest...

A green heron pokes around the muskrat house while a plastic decoy duck watches.

Meanwhile, the wildlife INSIDE...

Despite what this photo shows, cat introductions are going well.  As of yesterday, the kittens have free run of the entire house.  Calliope shows them who's boss with an occasional hiss.  Although they look SO sweet...

...they are WILD.  Todd and I sometimes look at each other, amazed, at their thundering rampages around the house.  How can two tiny kittens make so much noise?  They do, somehow.  They're into everything, demanding food and play and head rubs.  Tearing up and down the stairs, over and over again.  Causing a series of mysterious thumps in distant rooms...gulp!  Despite the noise and the chaos and the discovery that almost every houseplant here is TOXIC TO CATS (sigh)...we're enjoying kittenhood!   

Have a great week!  

agrostemma gem (-a)

 If you don't pick them, they'll go to seed.  So...

Some flower farmers grow on as little as 1/4 of an acre.  I'm not sure how they are able to harvest enough to sell!  I feel like I planted a lot of flowers, but it seems to be juuuuuuust enough to keep us in household bouquets (so far).  Which is just fine by me!  

The last of the peonies made a gorgeous display that lasted a week.

Whenever one died, I just clipped out the flower and put in another.  I love the mass of blooms!

I've been so focused on the back garden that I've basically ignored the front perennial beds.  Too bad, because they are starting to pop!

It's more quiet in the back.  Claudia sleeps next to me while I plant, almost blending into the mulch.

The pleasures here are best seen from ground level, like the Iceland poppies still going strong...

...and other odds and ends that have been blooming for weeks...an odd patch of sweet william, the last of the "Virginia Sparkle" stock.  

The sweet peas are finally taking off and it was worth the wait!  Started in early February, these guys needed months to form deep roots in cool soil.  Every shade of pale purple, pink, and cream...they are lovely.

I'm also getting wonderful rich color from my pansies.  They are container-grown, solely for bouquets.  They're tiny, but so gorgeous!

Sometimes the beauty is not in the color, but the shape.  I love the unique formation of bupleurum!

Hopefully I'll have some blooms soon!

Agrostemma provides both lovely shape (tall, wispy) and gorgeous color.  See the "stitching" in the bloom?

The "hots" - sun-worshippers like sunflowers, celosia, zinnias, and amaranth - are at least a month away from blooming.  Because of space constraints, I'm interspersing them with the "cools" so that they can start putting in roots.

I'm basically hoeing out weeds and planting the final "hots," pulling out spent sections to make room.  I have no idea if my little space will prosper.  I'm dealing with scads of moles, invasive thistle, and odd poor soil patches that seem to make growing impossible.  I'll just do what I can and hope for the best!

Klaus has proven to be an attention hound.

Two laps are better than one, right?

He's still playing too roughly with Tabitha, though, and requires a lot of attention.  I'm thinking about trying to leash-train him so we can walk off some of that energy.

Otherwise, we're making plans to be outside in a non-working capacity.  Not planting, weeding, mowing, or mulching...we want to get back to hiking, sitting and chatting, grilling out, and just enjoying the views.  

Have a great week!

a rabbit habit

 I think that it's summer!

Borga is loving the fences that allow her to roam freely between the fields.

Until we can get it hired out, Todd keeps mowed paths for easy walking.

I've been roaming there, too.  A small patch of multiflora roses made for a lovely outdoor bouquet!

Early mornings are perfect for rabbit frisking!  They aren't deterred by the new fences.

Barn swallows are nesting in our small barn.  

They are a constant presence outside, swooping overhead or twittering on the fence.

The cicadas love our new fences, too.  They're perfect for clinging and molting!

We're supposed to have over 200 BILLION of these "brood x" cicadas in our county.  Honestly, I've barely noticed them so far.  

Peekaboo!

They make a pleasant background humming that usually dies off by noon.

I've seen plenty of butterflies and bees, and lots of ground spiders, but was really pleased to see this young male garden spider hanging out on a poppy!

This warm weather has finally brought on some plant growth.  My anemones and ranuculus are in full bloom and I love them!  They look like roses until they fully open up.

My Iceland poppies are in full bloom, too.  They make gorgeous bouquets.

Sweet William, which can be annual, biennial, or perennial. is also blooming now.  This is a biennial variety that I don't remember planting last year.

My biennial foxgloves, which bloomed last year and are supposed to be done, are blooming again.  Hooray!

Not much else is happening in the annual flower garden, though, other than some wispy mystery snapdragons that were supposed to be Twinny Peach...

(photo courtesy of Swallowtail Gardens)

...but most assuredly are not.  I got them in a trade, and that's always a gamble.

Still, I like them, and the more you pick, the more they bloom.  That's the wonderful thing about many annuals!

Speaking of blooming, I think that Klaus is doing well here.  He seems to be enjoying himself...

It's been a bit of an adjustment period with Tabitha, but so far, so good.  Right now we're just trying to work with them patiently...and trying to work outside in the cool mornings before the full slam of a 90 degree day comes on...and trying to wait for the perennial bed to burst into bloom.

Oh, and trying patiently to wait for my new lens to come in.  I have a zoom lens for distance, a junky "all purpose" lens that came with my camera, and a wide angle lens.  My favorite, my most crisp and reliable lens that I've had for over a decade (a Canon macro lens) finally gave out (faulty connectors).  I ordered a new one in April, but it's back ordered until late JUNE.  It drives me crazy that many of my pictures are just slightly out of focus because I'm using the wrong lens for the job, but all I can do is wait.

Have a great week!