The October pond.

Do you ever have one of those days where it feels as if a load has been lifted from you?  Today has been one of those days for me.  I'm not sure if it's that we got a big (and kinda boring) house project done (by someone else for once) or that the sun was out.  The Littlest Gardener and I were mostly stuck inside today while the workers were here but we decided to walk around the pond and see how it was looking.  The sun was shining and it even felt warm out, a perfect fall day.  I noticed more flowers reblooming that I hadn't seen the last time I was outside.  Maybe not getting everything cut back awhile ago paid off. 

 For late afternoon the lighting on the pond was so pretty.  The fish were very active today compared to the last few times I've been out.  I saw that both the Water Hawthorn and a Water Lily have buds.

 Geranium 'Rozanne' is still blooming.  It sure has lived up to it's reputation this year.  I added one more to the front yard I was so impressed.  More will definitely be planted next year.

 Japanese Anemones surprised me again this year, mostly because I keep yanking them all out.  A few sneak past me every year.  I do love these flowers, but boy do they take over an area - spreading through everything in it's path.  I don't know if I'd plant these again.

 American Beautyberry 'Profusion' has purple berries!  I planted this just about a year ago and hoped that where it was planted it would get enough sun to produce berries.  Looks like it does.

And one more shot from the other side of the pond.  I love how the Heuchera 'Marmalade' and the Japanese Blood Grass look by each other.

The forecast for the weekend looks pretty good and I'm so hoping I'll get to spend some quality time with my garden.  

New surprises - Fertilizer Friday.

I've been looking longingly out the window most of this week, just dying to get outside and garden. I've been reading the forecast everyday, hoping there was some sort of miraculous change in the weather coming, but it never happened. In fact we set a record for our lowest high in May a couple of days ago, it only made it to 48 degrees (our average is the low 60's for this time of year). While yesterday was still cool, the sun actually came out and stayed there for most of the day. I could feel my mood lifting as the day went on, especially seeing that the weather should be gradually improving over the weekend.
I did my usual garden walk through and found some nice new surprises as well as getting a chance to enjoy some flowers that I haven't been able to take pictures of yet.

The big purple Rhododendron in the backyard has just started blooming. The Littlest Gardener calls this the plant with the "twisty branches" because of the unusual way it grows. When it's in full bloom I'll share a picture of the whole shrub.

Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a real favorite of mine in the path garden. The green foliage and bright white flowers really lighten it up. It does spread rather quickly, especially is the soil is moist. Luckily for me it's mostly in dry shade areas so hasn't been a problem.

One of the many surprise Columbines (Aquilegia). This is a new one to bloom this year, I haven't had any ruffled solid purples ones before. I love the surprises that come after years of Columbines mixing with each other.

This Columbine I remember planting at one time, but don't have the tag anymore. It's probably one of the few I've bought in a very long time, I usually have so many that have reseeded I don't need to.

This Columbine is the prettiest lavender color.

Very exciting is this Allium which is getting close to opening. It's quite a bit further along than the others which were planted right by it.

One of my favorites that I can always count on to bloom all summer is Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber).

This small Dogwood (Cornus florida) is having it's best bloom year yet which is surprising since I transplanted it in the Fall. I've promised the tree that this third spot will be it's final place. I've seen birds sitting in it's small branches. I always get excited when I see birds sitting in shrubs or trees we've planted, not sure exactly why, but I do.

This tiny Heuchera 'Petite Pearl Fairy' is doing great now and just starting to bloom. I was afraid it hadn't survived the winter. 'Marmalade' is right behind it. So far I've resisted any more Heuchera purchases this year, but it is only May...

Fertilizer Friday is hosted each Friday at Tootsie Time. Tootsie has an amazing greenhouse loaded with plants she's started. Visit her to see who else is "flaunting their flowers".

Out and about in the yard today.

Winter break was over yesterday and during it I hardly saw the outside. We spent almost everyday busy working on tiling the bathroom shower and I'm extremely happy to say, "We are done!!" It turned out really nice, but it was a lot of work. I'll post a picture of it soon, today I just wanted to focus on my yard. Even though it was misty and gray today it was refreshingly mild and felt so nice just to wander around the yard for a bit.
The front yard is showing lots of promise that there may be a bloom or two for Bloom Day next week.

Hellebores (H. orientalis) keep sending up more flower buds. I love the maroon color these will become.

In the same bed the white Hellebores are also sending up lots of flowers. In this bed there are about 6 large Hellebores. I notice every year that this one has the most flowers and another plant is always much later and has fewer flowers. I think the difference is the sun, the one that gets the most sun is the one with the least flowers.

This Magnolia tree 'Vulcan' caught my eye as I pulled in the driveway today. I caught a glimpse of the green and of course had to come over and check out all the new growth. We just planted it last year and it didn't get a chance to bloom. I hope it has lots of flowers this Spring.

Around the backyard a view down the path shows how gray and wet it is. I did see Bluebells coming up along with more daffodils. More Hellebores down the path have buds on them and the Sarcococca rusicfolia has many little white flower buds that should bloom this month.

One of my very favorite early Spring bloomers is the Pink Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum). The hummingbirds get very territorial over the beautiful pink flowers. There is lots of new growth along the branches of this shrub now. The Winter Hazel (Corylopsis) 'Buttercup', another early Spring bloomer also is getting quite a bit of new growth.

Next to the pond the Japanese Blood Grass has aged to a most beautiful rusty orange color, in fact the same color as the underside of the leaves of the Heuchera 'Marmalade' right next to it.

While I was by the pond I decided to clean the pump after the recent Heron visits (yes, it was back again!) really stirred up a lot of silt on the bottom of the pond. The great news is that I noticed that in addition to the 5 or so little fish he left, there were 2 very tiny fish that must have been hiding all this time. I hadn't seen them at all until today. They looked like baby Shubunkin, which are a type of goldfish that are white with a speckling of black and orange spots.
Yesterday Darla from Family and Flowers challenged us to end our post on something we are grateful for. I'm grateful for the time I get to spend in my garden and the feeling of rejuvenation that it gives me.