Weekend garden walk.............

Already seeing amazing blooming in the garden. 

Over the weekend the clematis was a surprise, buds 

opening and large blooms already requiring help to 

clamber up the birdhouse pole. 

The perfect temperatures in the low 70's with

a gentle breeze make me realize again how beautiful 

Spring can be here in the southeastern USA.....we are 

definitely lucky and I feel for those of you up north, 

and in the Midwest where the snow is still falling,  

Winter just doesn't want to leave. 

The Spanish bluebells are still beautiful - these are 

definitely naturalizing now and large patches of blue

are scattered throughout the garden.

The pollen has dissipated - just a fine covering of 

yellow-green dust settles on everything overnight.......then a 

quick hose down and it looks clean and fresh.

My favorites, the pale pink George Taber azalea, are massed 

on the bushes which have grown well the past year.....

....and these other azaleas, names unknown, grow abundantly 

in the back garden in wild abandon, informal as these 

woodland shrubs should be. Our Winter efforts to keep 

the compost bin filled paid off, we've had rich soil to 

add to many plants and shrubs the past week.

Yesterday afternoon I cleaned out the gazebo, hosing away 

pollen and spider webs, washing cushions in readiness 

for outdoor afternoon tea days this week perhaps.

The snowball bush is pretty and loaded with flowers now 

opening from lime green to bright white. When I rescued it 

from a pot just a couple of years back I never expected it 

to grow this well.

The blooming of the honeysuckle was another surprise this 

past week..........more flowers than former years so 

something must be right in that rather dark corner 

back by the fence.  

Below, the small 'tree' in the center appears to be a 

volunteer dogwood - I'm so excited seeing it growing 

proud and tall, hopefully it will survive as we've lost 

all but one of the wild dogwoods growing here before.

Hope you enjoyed the garden walk.....and do come join us 

if you can! 

We have no help with our quarter acre garden........

and it is a lot of work for us now,

but we feel our efforts to keep it growing and blooming 

are worth it - and great exercise - and will continue to 

manage it ourselves for as long as we can. I planted 

almost everything in the garden over the past sixteen 

years. It has been a labor of love.

We sat collapsed on the front porch Saturday evening. 

Watching the birds at the feeders, enjoying 

an aperitif. We looked across the freshly mown lawn 

to the flowers and green shrubs, and it made all the 

hard work of the past two weeks so worthwhile.