Exciting News in the Wildflower Border!

Well in addition to this year going marvelously better than previous ones, may I present to you the gorgeous arbor my husband built two weekends ago?!

The next weekend we went to the nursery and found some clematis!!
Ended up with an earlier-blooming "Ernest Markham" (bright pinkish-red flowers) and a later, long-blooming "Jackmanii Superba" (deep purple flowers)!

Started them growing at opposite sides, so we'll see how they do!

I'm so excited!!!

And then there's this fellow...

Why am I really confused by this?!
They started little buds earlier than usual because it was so warm, then, inspite of my burying with leaves, I was pretty sure the mid-April frost had taken my sweet blooms away.

And yet, hark - here it cometh!

I've tried looking at previous years' pictures to see if this is normal and I'm struggling to come up with the answer. Is this late for hydrangeas or normal?


I had to move some things because of the arbor and also found a spiffy new plant at the nursery... "Look at this; it's pretty cool and it's local."    "Let's get it!"    "Do you have room for it?"    Psssshhhhhhhh....room, one can always MAKE room! (Might lose some more grass...um...I mean....no honey, totally not expanding my gardens into the yard any more! :-D)

So I chopped off half of the way over-huged clump of chives, pushed back a plant that I think is a flower into an empty spot (which is why it's super wilty in the picture on the right...it's ok, it's since recovered) and put my new little guy in front (he didn't come with a tag, so I'll have to ask husband if he remembers what it was called).



It seemed like overnight, one day it was not and the next day we walk out and the Gardenia is in bloom!

And then I thought I would justify myself here a bit...

Remember how I talk about having trouble identifying some plants and if they're flowers or weeds...?

Well, I was looking at pictures from last year and saw these gorgeous tall deep red flowers. So pretty! 'Aww, I haven't seen any of those leaves, so I must have pulled them all out' :-(

Goes out to garden 10 minutes later:  "Ooooh! There they are!!"

No wonder I didn't notice them:

So, my friends...here is cilantro after it's started thinning before it flowers...see those whispy little leaves? Then compare on the right, the Nigella leaves that look AWFULLY similar!

And THEN compare with whatever the beautiful deep
red flowers are...



Can you see why I have a hard time knowing what on earth is in my garden?!!

Yikes, they all look alike!

But each year I notice more and more subtle differences and this is why I take photos...because come next spring when everything's popping I will have forgotten all over again!

So overall I am amazed and very pleased with how it's coming this year!

One of the biggest differences is now that things I know I like have seeded themselves, I'm not afraid to rip out seelings to make sure they're not overcrowding other plants, too close to the sidewalk or too far in the front if they're taller, etc.     Normally I hate pulling things out because "what if it's a flower?!!"...and really? if it is...when is it ever just ONE flower!

So, some bravery and a LOT of learning from mistakes ... and being willing to take the chance to lose something by moving it when it's totally too late to do so... (shhh, I'm not a bad plant mother! :-/ )

Hey, so far so good, so keeping my fingers crossed!

Beautiful! 
(even prettier since then now that the gardenia, hydrangea and more lilies are in bloom!)