Fertilizer Friday the 13th!

Finally a chance to join in on Fertilizer Friday!  Blogger had been down so I guess many of us are late in getting our posts up.  I was so happy to have sunny weather, new blooms and my husband off for a couple of days during the week.  Nothing unlucky about this Friday the 13th!  We spent most of the last two days outside enjoying sun and nice temperatures in the low 60's.
Here is just some of what has started blooming now:

The apple tree is covered in blossoms, more than I've seen on it in years.  Luckily the bees have had some dry days to come to visit and pollinate.

Columbines are just starting to bloom.  These ones face way down and are hard to take pictures of (especially since I was on the phone with my sister while trying to take these).

Bergenia flowers.

Saxifraga 'London Pride' which was shared with me by my blogging friend Linda from Gardening by Trial and Error.

My first bloom on a Trillium, does it do more than this?  It's seems to be stuck at this stage.

A new Clematis growing in one of my wine barrel containers.

Geums are starting to bloom.  I'm waiting for one called 'Double Bloody Mary' to open, sounds yummy right about now.

Polemonium or Jacob's Ladder the grape scented flower.

Weigela 'Minuet' is the first of the Weigelas to bloom in my garden.

A new plant Erysimum 'Apricot Twist' smells really good.

Yesterday at Sweet Pea's track meet the Littlest Gardener and her friend played in this grassy field full of tiny daisies.  They were collecting the cut grass and decorated the piles with flowers and pine cones.  I loved how they didn't need any toys to have fun.  And it was even better since the track meet was 3 hours long, the previous weeks have been cold and cloudy and rainy.  Sweet Pea is a 7th grader and running varsity against 8th and 9th graders and doing really well, especially the 400 meters.

This is another thing my husband and I did yesterday, put together a new potting bench.  We are trying to decide how to paint or stain this potting bench - any suggestions welcome!

I hope you'll take time to visit Tootsie Time to see what other gardeners have blooming today.

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

May end of month view.

May is finished and I hope the weather it brought is finished as well. Our highs over the weekend were in the low 50's and it was either raining or at least drizzling the whole time. I finally gave up on waiting for the sun to appear and spent a couple of hours under trees in the path garden cleaning up and doing a little weeding. Most of the garden is doing fine, but the seedlings and vegetables seem to be on hold waiting for a little sun. It looks as if it will be later in the week before sun and some warmer weather will be here.
Today I remembered that it was time for the end of month view with The Patient Gardener. This part of the garden sure has gone crazy and looks like a jungle now.

I never imagined the Hydrangeas would actually ever get this huge. After they finish blooming this year I plan to cut them way back. Hydrangeas seem to thrive in my yard, must be the acidic soil that we have. The Columbines are finishing blooming and then they will be cut back too.

A new plant from last year is Trollius 'Cheddar'. So far I've only found this one lone flower. The scent reminds me of jasmine.

Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium) against Heuchera 'Caramel'.

The Jacob's Ladder have really multiplied and have no signs of mildew. The Bleeding Hearts are still blooming, I usually cut them back a bit after they are done. Spiderwort is getting ready to bloom in this area too. Heucheras are blooming as well.

On this Memorial Day I also am thinking about all the men and women who have and still are serving our country. Thank you for your service and for helping to protect our country.

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.

April End of the Month View.

The months are flying by so fast I forgot again about joining in with Helen at The Patient Gardener's Weblog for the end of month view. I joined in taking pictures of my entry garden last September. When looking back at September's post I saw that it really didn't look that much different as it does now. Things were just finishing up for the season and the Japanese Maple's leaves had just barely begun changing, where as now the plants are just getting ready to start blooming. But if you want to see how this same place looked in December click here. Now that's a big difference!

Japanese Maple 'Orido Nishiki' was worth every penny we paid for it. It seemed like an overpriced stick when we planted it about 6 years ago, now it looks like a real tree. The Hydrangeas have grown much larger than I ever expected them to. They are both loaded with buds.

Blooming under the tree are two different types of Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium) neither of which I know the names of. I have a variegated type in other parts of the yard but they seem to bloom much later. This taller purple one reseeds and smells like grapes.

Heuchera 'Crimson Curls' and Astillbe.

Heuchera 'Caramel' on the right and 'Dolce Key Lime Pie' on the left. There are several other Heucheras in this bed as well, and some have just begun blooming. The leaves coming up between them are from Trollius 'Cheddar'. I'm really happy to see it coming up, the yellow flowers smelled like jasmine.

Helen is getting her garden ready for the Malvern meetup which is coming up soon. Many garden bloggers will be meeting for the Malvern Spring gardening show in the UK in May. I wish I was going to be one of them, maybe another year.

Frost free Fertilizer Friday.

Another week has flown by and Spring break is just about over. Yesterday, which was forecast to be stormy and even started with a little snow, turned into a beautiful day, cool but sunny skies. We spent part of our day at a fruit market which I discovered sold many plants as well, and at a very reasonable price. So we picked up Dill (to hopefully attract butterflies), Campanula rotundifolia 'Olympica', Dianthus 'Plumerius' and Chocolate Mint. All but the mint will go into the butterfly garden, mint is always planted in pots to keep them contained in my garden. We once rented a house that someone had let mint run wild in the garden. It was everywhere and impossible to remove. Even something that smells like Chocolate needs to be kept contained. ☺
The buds on so many plants are beginning to appear; Hydrangeas, Iris (a real surprise), tiny Rose buds and Columbines and the Dogwood are very close to blooming.
April 9th is supposed to be the last frost date for where I live, and that means I can begin sowing some more seeds outside now. I've got lots of things sitting and waiting to go in the ground and it looks like this weekend the weather should cooperate for me to be able to plant.

Pink Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) is still looking good, although it's just past it's peak time. It bloomed early and the hummingbirds haven't found it yet, although I did see a hummingbird at one of the feeders yesterday. I always love how the flowers look against the bark of the Ponderosa Pine.

I never tire of looking at the Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis).

Spanish Bluebells which I remember hearing had become invasive in certain places. The clumps get larger every year, but I never find them in any new places.

Bergenia 'Winter Glow' which was planted last Fall. I planted several of these along the front of the bed. These flowers are hot pink and the foliage turns reddish in the Fall. I actually didn't used to like these, they reminded me of lettuce, but somehow they've grown on me.

Apple blossoms getting ready to open. I don't think we'll have as many apples this year, I haven't found that many buds. I think with the mild winter it didn't set as much fruit.

Daffodil 'Sempre Avanti' just starting to bloom in my front yard. It has a really nice scent. After having such great luck with Daffodils this year I plan to add lots more for next Spring.

Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium) has grape scented flowers. They smell like candy.

Camellia japonica 'Kumasaka' is still blooming.

Pieris japonica 'Purity' is a veeeerrrry slow grower. I'm just glad it bloomed again.

Leopard's Bane (Doronicum orientale)

Fertilizer Friday is hosted every Friday by Tootsie at Tootsie Time. Visit her to join in or see who else is "flaunting their flowers."
I found this quote the other day, and for some reason it struck me as funny. I think because this time of year when so many plants are coming up it's hard to know if something is a real plant or a weed.

"When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant." ~Author Unknown