Fertilizer Friday - May 21st.

Another week has flown by and it's hard to believe it's already Friday again. The last couple of days we've had some crazy weather. It started off beautiful this week, but as the week progressed we've had some heavy rain showers and quite a bit of wind. Some of the plants got a bit beat up between the rain and wind. I'm just waiting for a nice quiet day to get out and do some work now.

In the front yard the white Lupine is blooming with more Allium 'Purple Sensation' as well as daylilies and lots of Columbines.

Foxgloves are really close to blooming now and I'm excited to see just how many there will be. I've found lots of little seedlings which I'm leaving so they can bloom next year. Baptisia is on it's third year here, and it has begun to leap.

I showed rose 'Abraham Darby' just opening a couple of days ago and now it's in full bloom. There are many buds coming too.

The birdhouse behind the pond has Clematis 'Ville de Lyon' going crazy on it. This is one of my favorite and easiest Clematis. I had tried to tie it up a little, but the wind really blew it around. The Chickadees are busy flying in and out feeding their babies so I'll fix it when they have moved out.

'Ville de Lyon' will open more, but I was so surprised and happy to see them starting to bloom I had to take some pictures.

Clematis 'Miss Bateman' is blooming great too. Clematis 'Alionushka' is the other vine growing and it was also blown over by the wind. I spent part of yesterday going around and tying plants up. The Snowball bush (Viburnum opulus) is so loaded with flowers that they are bending to the ground. I've cut quite a few to bring inside.

Another Clematis 'Crimson King' was doing great. This picture was taken a few days ago, but after the wind beat it up the flowers and quite a bit of the vine are very droopy, I think some stems may have been broken.

Penstemon heterophyllus 'Electric Blue' is a new one that I just planted. It's just started to bloom, maybe it liked the wind.

Geranium 'Johnson's Blue' was moved to a sunnier place and already looks much less leggy than it did in the previous spot.

I appreciate all the comments and am doing my best to get around to visit everyone. It has been very busy around here with little time to get on the computer let alone get in the garden. After this weekend things should start quieting down, and I'm sure looking forward to that.

To see who else is "flaunting their flowers" visit Tootsie at Tootsie Time who hosts Fertilizer Friday each week.

May 2010 Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Now that I've been joining in on Bloom Day for over a year I like going back to see what I had blooming on the previous year's bloom days. Most of the garden seems to be ahead of last year by a couple of weeks still. Our Spring weather has been fluctuating quite a bit between mild and then cold and rainy. Yesterday was up to 75 degrees, today is predicted to be the same.
I saw the first Dragonfly of the year a couple of days ago and am still waiting to see some butterflies other than the Cabbage Whites. Hopefully the flowers that are blooming will draw in some more butterflies as well as hummingbirds. We've had a Spotted Towhee that seems to be spending most of the day in our backyard. I've started recognizing his call, although no one seems to be responding to him. I guess our yard is his bachelor pad. There had been a pair of them for quite awhile so either the female is sitting on the nest while he hangs out in the birdbath or something has happened to her.

Now, here are some of the flowers blooming outside today:

The Snowball bush (Viburnum opulus) has more flowers than ever this year. Since getting rid of our old shed that was on the back side of the fence we can enjoy this bush from both sides of the yard.

This Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium) has tiny light blue flowers.

Lots of Columbines (Aquiligea) are blooming.

I started 'Yellow Spotlight' last year with wintersowing. These will get about 3 feet tall, I have others of this same type I started years ago and they are very tall, bloom for a long time and reseed very easily.

Clematis 'Miss Bateman'

Lilac (Syringa x prestoniae) 'Miss Canada', these don't have much of a fragrance. It's supposed to be attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds.

Catmint (Nepeta) is attractive to our neighbors cats. Luckily they seem to prefer just one of the plants, and it grows back very easily.

Ladies Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) grows well in both sun and shade in my garden.

Knautia macedonia

Also blooming are Clematis 'Nelly Moser', Rhododendrons, Bearded Irises, Golden Mock Orange, Bleeding Hearts, Bunchberry, Red Valerian and a few others. Next month I hope more Clematises and roses will be blooming, I'm really getting anxious to see some roses!

On the 15th of each month Bloom Day is hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens. Visit her to see what she and other gardeners from around the world have blooming today.

A surprise within a surprise!

My feelings about surprises are kind of complicated. I'm very impatient and so if I'm told that there is a surprise for me, it drives me crazy trying to figure out what it could be. Then there are the surprises that aren't so good, like opening the garage door to find that the hot water tank is leaking all over the floor. But, then there are the best kinds of surprises, the unexpected good kind, like digging a hole for a plant and finding a buried treasure...okay that's really just a fantasy, but it would be a good surprise.
Yesterday I showed pictures of Clematis vines and noticed there were some nice big buds on one of them. I quite surprised to find about 5 flowers wide open today, even after a very cold night that was down in the upper 30's.

This Clematis hadn't bloomed for me because I had pruned it at the wrong time. Knowing it was a type 2 that bloomed on old wood I left it alone last year.

Isn't it pretty? Definitely worth waiting for.

But, the real surprise wasn't just that it bloomed. It was that I don't think it's supposed to look like this. This was marked as 'Piilu' which should be pink with a dark purplish bar. It should also be blooming as a double on the old wood. I still love the flower, just really surprised at what I got versus what I expected. If anyone has any ideas of what this might really be I'd love to know.
**Update the surprise has been figured out. Clare and Eileen both thought it looked like 'Miss Bateman'. I thought I had planted a 'Miss Bateman' in the backyard, maybe that Clematis will be 'Piilu'. It should be blooming soon. Guess I surprised myself. Thanks!**

I guess the reason people suggest buying things in bloom is so these things don't happen. Either way I still love my surprise in a surprise!