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.

Blooming "bones".

One thing I've learned from gardening is that getting the "bones" of the garden planted first is important. The bones of the garden are usually trees and shrubs, but can be things such as arbors or trellises, that add structure and height and often provide a backdrop for the flowers and foliage to shine against. I remember reading this advice many years ago, but because I'm rather impulsive I had a very hard time following it. I wanted instant gratification so I kept planting flowers. As time went by I started realizing something was missing, it just never looked right. It was the "bones" that were missing, they did matter and I needed to try to go back and fix that. Trying to go back and add them is not very easy, and so whenever I talk to someone that is just starting out with their yard I try to stress how important it is. I've done a pretty good job now, especially in my front yard, to add mostly shrubs that will eventually reach enough height to provide some year round interest and most importantly to let the perennials planted in front of them a background to show off in front of.
Since I'm really a flower lover most of the bones of my garden also put on their own show of flowers, many of them Spring bloomers, which works out perfectly since the taller perennials won't be blooming for quite some time. Now I have flowers that are blooming up higher as well as the Spring blooms that seem to mostly be shorter plants.
Here are a few of the blooming "bones" of the garden now:

Mexican Orange (Choysia ternata) is an evergreen shrub that handles our cold winters pretty well. The fresh white flowers do have a bit of a citrusy scent. Some people find the smell of the leaves not very good, but I've never been bothered by it.

This little Deutzia 'Pink Minor' has been shown a couple of times lately, but I just had to show the flowers up close. They almost look like they are made of wax. Once the flowers fade it will fade into the background, but now it's loaded with flowers in an area that not much else is blooming yet.

Weigela 'Minuet' will stay on the small side. Hummingbirds love the flowers. Once it finishes blooming the Peony and roses nearby will take over.

Weigela 'Shining Sensation' was planted mostly for the wine colored foliage, but I do love the red flowers too. I'm hoping this will fill up a space in front of our back fence and plan to add perennials in front of it.

Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) 'Ludwig Spaeth' is part of the summer background for the butterfly garden once it finishes blooming.

Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls' is another one that was chosen not only for it's flowers, but for the foliage color.

Most of these shrubs haven't reached their full size yet, but eventually many of them should help add more structure in the garden, as well as making the garden easier to care for since none require any pruning. What are some of your favorite "blooming bones" in your garden?