Friday, April 13th, 2010

Spring has held the most delightful surprises in the garden.  Not having become intimate with all that grows here until sometime in June, last year, I had no idea how many pretty bulbs there were.  Not the amount, nor the variety in the garden on the hill, but nonetheless adequate  for our thirst for beauty, and most especially it is not overwhelming......

Here are some pictures.....

The pretty creeper that protects the roots of the clematis from the hot summer sun

tulip bulbs around the base of the mountain ash - also some iris and some elephants ears

the hellebore from up above

a little clump of daffodils

and tulips

and the oriental poppy, growing by leaps and bounds

a part of the side bed

and an elegant picture of the maple at the front, - the one we don't know

the name of, but admire the show it puts on in the spring.

the lovely, delicate willow

and some pretty bulbs and iris outside the kind of wonky fence

bird house - free occupancy

a pretty corner when the roses are in bloom

the pussy willow has shed all its catkins, covering the back lawn

I presume the bees and other flying creatures have done what they were supposed to do

in regards to pollen and fertilization

I am waiting to see what this lovely plant produces

and here are the beautiful satiny centres of the Oriental Peony, surrounded

by their ferny fringe

the raspberry bed, all tidied up courtesy of Vince

and another bird house, behind which grows a rhubarb plant

a delphinium, and with the delphinium the lilies have shown themselves,

I remember their lovely, delicate colours.

Along the back the raised bed is packed with plants from the garden on the hill, and an Abraham Darby I bought from Don and Anna's last fall, which seems to have survived the winter quite nicely.

I have planted sweet peas along between the fence and the raised bed, and have made a little list of other annuals I would like to have (well, must have.._ like cosmos, nasturtion, cleome, foxglove, if possible and the list goes on and on.  I found a canterbury bell growing in the garden on the hill and snaffled it for a little corner in the raised bed!!!

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth will find reserves of strength that will last as long as life lasts.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night and spring after winter.

Rachel Carson