And now it's June?

 This year seems to be absolutely flying past!  It's hard for me to believe it's already June and that summer is just weeks away.  I've had a little time here and there to spend in the garden.  I'm trying to take advantage of any free time (which is little) and pull weeds that are slowly trying to take over.  There seems to be something new blooming everyday, so it's fun finding what the newest flowers are blooming.  The weather hasn't been all that great, lots of gray skies and cool for that time of year, although really this is fairly typical for June in the Seattle area. 
Here's just some of what's happening in the front yard"

 Roses, Peonies, Irises, Alliums and Erysimums in bloom.

 Unknown Irises and Peony 'Festiva Maxima'.

 Lupine started by Sweet Pea at school last year.

 Oriental Poppy 'Princess Victoria Louise'

 Rose 'Abraham Darby' has it's first flower.  Last year I don't think it got more than one or two flowers.  It was damaged during the previous winter and took all year to recover.

 Spanish Poppies and Red Valerian with Lamb's Ear.

 The Delphinium that came back!  Not as tall as I hoped, but it survive the winter and slugs.

 'Eden Rose'

 Geum 'Double Bloody Mary'.  By far the best Geum in my garden.  Lots of purple Columbines.

 Raised beds are filling in with veggies and herbs.

 Fuchsia, Heucheras and more around this sweet angel.

 Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll' and Geranium (I think 'Patricia')

 The chicken feeder planter that I filled earlier this spring.

 A Siberian Iris that I found blooming recently.  This is it's first bloom and it was given to me by a fellow blogger, Linda of Gardening by Trial and Error, who passed away around this time last year.

The driveway garden is doing really well.  We finally dug up the Magnolia that wasn't doing anything and found it's rootball hadn't grown at all.  We have potted it up and are hoping we might be able to "fix" it.  It was replaced by a 4-way grafted Apple tree.

School for both of my girls is wrapping up in the next few weeks.  I'm always surprised at how quickly the school year goes by.  It seems each year is a little busier than the last as they get older and are doing new things.  Luckily I can usually find some time every week or so to unwind and relax in the garden!

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

I'm still in the garden!

 I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted!  It has been so busy around here, I've barely had time to go on the computer let alone take pictures or blog.  Our weather has been just gorgeous, very summer like and it's hard not to be outdoors when it's like that.  After two awful springs in a row we are all celebrating all this sun and warm weather.  The Littlest Gardener has already been out playing in the sprinkler.  Last year I think it was July before that happened. 
I tried not to go overboard on the pictures, but it was hard not to.  There is just so much going on outside!

 We've been working on getting more planted around the picket fence out front.  I think it's going to look really pretty this year.  The Pink Dogwood ended up having a great bloom!  It's still covered in flowers.

 Deutzia 'Pink Minor' near the front door.  I moved it last year and it seems to love it's new spot.

 Some containers near the front door.

 Clematis 'Asao' is in the wine barrel planter in the previous picture.  The flowers are huge!

 The two raised beds out front are beginning to look like real veggie gardens!  Besides herbs there is spinach, beets, radishes and all kinds of squash plants in this one.

 The other bed is full of kale, chard, basil, peppers and hopefully carrots.

 The Lilac 'Ludwig Spaeth' is having it's best year ever.  The color is so bright and really grabs your attention.

 From the other side of the bed you can see how full it's gotten.

 The neighbor kitty found a nice shady spot under the pear tree.

 Alliums are coming up everywhere!

 Spanish poppies have a really pretty scent, bloom like crazy all spring and summer and I love their tissue paper appearance.

 Gracie found a warm spot on the gravel to plot her next escape.  Here Clematis, rose, Delphiums and phlox are filling in.

 A container I put together last year.  Lewisia is blooming.

 In a shady corner Clematis 'Miss Bateman' is covered in blooms.

 The shed garden is just packed with flowers!

 One of my favorite Columbines.

 The variegated Rhododendron has been here for three years and finally decided to bloom this year.

 We've had herons visiting and so the fish have been hiding a lot.  There is only one so far that I can't find.  After the last time we had heron problems I put an old plastic crate in the pond with plants on it.  It's a perfect hiding spot for the fish now, especially since it's covered in algae.

 The path garden has also taken off.  You can hardly walk down this part everything is so big.  I'm still hoping the Clematises will one day cover this arch.

 For now there are a few 'Nelly Moser' flowers blooming.

 A view of the path from the other direction.

 The raised beds on the side yard are full of Blueberry bushes.  I hope we get lots of berries this year!

 The chicks had their first night outside last night and did great.  I had been putting them out during the day and they loved it so much and hated being put back in their brooder.

 They are growing so quickly!  Now the house is empty of seedlings and chicks and it can get put back together again.  We are all enjoying the chicks.  They are so relaxing to watch.

Hope you lasted for the whole tour!  I realize I forgot to add the driveway garden.  I'll do a post on just that garden next time.  

How's your spring so far?

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

Hillside Farm - an adventure in rust and treasures!

 Often on the weekend my family and I get in the car and set out with no plan in mind.  Usually either my husband or I have an idea of an area that we want to see and then we just get in the car and go.  It's amazing how many really great places we end up finding that even if we tried to find we wouldn't.  Today's adventure started with my husband's craving for Dim Sum.  This lead us to try Top Gun in Bellevue.  It was a lot of fun and very good.  Then he thought heading out east sounded like a good place to drive.  We saw lots of pretty areas, and after deciding to take random turns we ended up on Renton Issaquah Road.  As we were admiring the scenery and pointing out horses all of a sudden on the left side of the road we all spotted a place that was unlike any I'd ever seen.  Even the girls said we had to turn around and see what it was.
We drove up a driveway lined in old windows, shutters, wood cutouts of reindeer and other cool stuff and parked.  A really friendly man came right out to greet us and told us to explore.  I could have asked him questions all day, but I didn't want to keep him from his other customers.  I'll tell you what I learned.  His name is John and this was his family's former petting zoo called Hillside Farm.  When his kids grew up and moved out he got tired of taking care of all the animals.  He retired from his job and opened up this place.  He said he goes picking in old barns and that's where he finds all these treasures.  He also teaches black smithing (how cool would that be to learn?!), jewel faceting and other art trades.  John showed us some of his art that he has displayed around.
I only had my phone camera but I just had to take some pictures to share.
 

 He and some artist friends are planning to install a large whirligig they are making in the next couple of months in the front.  He said it will be larger than this windmill.

 Everywhere you turned there was more and different things to look at.

 Rails and rails of horseshoes.  My girl each chose one.

 So many great rusty garden tools!!

 Where he does his black smithing.

 Out on the front porch.

 Inside there were so many interesting pictures, books and other things.  It was like being in a museum with the huge variety of items in there.

 All sorts of marbles.

 Primitives

Notice all the hummingbird feeders everywhere.  I saw John had his tomato plants outside already, it seems early but they were huge and very healthy.

I searched and searched online for more information on Hillside Farm, but I found nothing at all.  I'm so glad I took one of his business cards so that I can share the address of this amazing place.

Hillside Farm - 11309 Renton Issaquah Road SE, Issaquah, Washington.  Phone number 425-761-6936.

We left with an old goldpan(lots of goldpanning tools there), some horseshoes and a galvanized washtub.  I can't wait to go back and see what we find next time.

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