Uninterrupted garden time.

As much as I love my family there is something about working in the garden without interruptions that is really enjoyable.  It's very rare that I have these times anymore, but yesterday I had some.   My husband, being the great guy he is, took my oldest daughter to the yarn store of all places.  She is very into knitting right now and he told her they'd go get more yarn.  I don't think he even knew these types of stores existed, but he's just the type of guy to do that for his daughter.  The littlest gardener begged to join them, so the little white dog and I went out to the front yard to do some serious gardening.  I had been anxious to do some real work on the new "butterfly garden" and the areas around it.  This is an area I hadn't done much serious planning with so it always seemed unfinished to me.  

This is part of the butterfly garden I started awhile ago.  It's really begun to fill in.  I did lots of weeding today, especially along the lattice fence the neighbors put in.  For some reason that's always the weediest part of the yard.  I'm not sure how easy it is to see, but I planted the Clematis 'Peppermint' to grow up the shepherd's hook.  Once I unwound it from the trellis it came on it was close to 4 feet high already.

Variegated Wallflower (erysimum) has grown quite a bit since I planted it a couple of months ago.

A view from the front of the bed.  I realized that I didn't get the Geums that I transplanted to the front.  I had them sort of spread around and thought they would look better planted in a grouping.  The leaves to the left of the Lamb's Ears (stachys) are Threadleaf Coreopsis 'Moonbeam'.  To the left of them is where the Geums are as well as Baptisia which is looking great now.

I think the Red Valerian (centranthus ruber) is one of my favorite plants right now.  It seems to look good with whatever is next to it, at least it does to me.

The peony 'Festiva Maxima' is in full bloom with these huge flowers, I wish I could bottle the scent.  I could just smell it all day long.  This is the first time I remember it not pouring rain right after it bloomed.  They are front and center right now and I can see them from all of our front windows.

Persian Cornflower (centaurea dealbata) is really blooming now, there is blue salvia behind it and they look great together.  I did lots of weeding and cut back some of the columbines and muscari in this area. 

I always feel so refreshed after several hours of gardening.  I know non-gardeners think of weeding, digging and transplanting as chores but to me it's fun and rewarding.  I can't wait to see how these areas look in just a few weeks as more blooms start to open.