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.

The September Pond.

Earlier this year I started taking pictures of my pond around mid month to show what's happening around and in it. It's been a great way for me to notice things happening that I otherwise probably wouldn't notice. When you see something everyday you don't always see the subtle changes happening.

The water lily pads are yellowing and not many new ones are appearing, a sign of fall in the pond. A lot of the foliage on the pond plants are beginning to die back. My poor mini cattails were beat up by the raccoons and so never formed catkins this year. I need to repot it in a bigger container weighted with rocks.

This is a new water garden container I just put together this week. I bought these plants, Miniature Golden Sweet Flag 'Minimus Aureus' (Acorus gramineus), thinking they would like growing along the damp side of the pond, only to realize there isn't space. Oops. I like them in the container better anyway.

Hardy fuchsia which hangs over the pond. Every once in awhile an idea I have in mind really works the way I imagined. I love the idea of plants hanging over the edges of the pond to soften the rock edging.

'Sioux' has slowed way down with the flowers.

Blue Pickerel Weed has more blooms coming which surprised me.

Amazing to see the difference in lighting that really shows between this picture and the first in this post. The "sun" or bright area under the clouds was behind me. Here the picture is taken through the new Japanese Blood Grass 'Red Baron' (something I've been admiring on Frances' blog lately) is a hint of what was planted in the new area behind this space that I've been working on this week. Lots of digging and moving plants around.

The plantings around the pond are still looking pretty good, although the growth has slowed down quite a bit. The apples are getting nice and red and more are ready to be picked. The fish are still very active and looking for food, but as the weather begins to cool they will spend more time at the bottom of the pond. The good part is that the birds are visiting the pond and feeders more right now. That's why I love this pond, there's always something going on around it or in it.