Mrow

Look at my sweet girls. Remember when we had to guard little tiny Elphie from big mean Ginger?

Awwww.

Elphaba did some exploring on top of the shoe shelves.

And got caught black-handed.

We decided to get some action shots of me in my garden.

The weeds like to hide in the irises, because they know I don't get in there very often.

Dan got a little artistic.

An awkward sitting position, and Princesse Caroline is on my head.

I didn't count them, but get a load of this patch of irises.

Another view.

We went to a new nursery and they had these kind of pitiful-looking creeping phlox half off. I kind of cut it in half and stuck it in two different spots.

The grape hyancinth has these little pods on it.

I love these lemon zest petunias!

My Kerry sedums are so happy.

Princesse Caroline de Monaco has three blooms!

Look at my dianthus!

Neither is covered like the creeping phlox is, but they're so purty.

I planted that Portland rose, Comte de Chambord, and look at this...

...A BUD! It likes me!!

Here's what I usually refer to as the "other" side of the porch. From front to back, you can see the hostas, the very happy and bloomingful bleeding hearts, creeping phlox, coralbells, and Las Vegas irises.

A little spring cleaning

Meow!

You can see my newest crochet project next to Ginger. :)

My lemon zest petunia is doing very well!

A bluebonnet has GOT to be a variety of lupine, because look at the detail on this baby. (I was finally successful with a zoom shot!)

I really just can't believe its foliage.

It's a Las Vegas bud!

Can you see Elphaba in the window?

What an evil look! Her left eye is even squinty!

Mom, I know you love columbines, so this one's for you! It's called Spring Magic Rose and White.

And there she is, with a monster hand!

My Lysimachia Alexander has given birth to an albino variety. Isn't that weird?

And there's also a bud on Trop Jaloux! (I've decided that's the name of my purple-and-white iris. I got it from an Edith Piaf song. hehe)

Firebreather is going to go crazy!

I tried putting my Sarah Bernhardt peony against the Kerry sedum for better focus, or at least a better view than against brown soil. What say you?

Tidal Wave petunia is still looking good!

Both of my shastas are trying to open up.

Now get a load of this. Next to the grape hyacinth, it looks like a big daylily is coming up, plus the two orientals coming up by the garden marker. Woohoo! (That's a wilting hyacinth in the background that I bought wilting and planted for next season.)

No, my bleeding hearts are not actually multiplying. I added a white one there on the left, and it's HUGE.

I just love taking close-up pictures of them!

There's the white one!

Eee! My new pink one hasn't really bloomed all that much. Maybe it tired itself out at the nursery.

The hostas are starting to look like hostas.

The creeping phlox is opening up.

I was too late to get a picture of our cherry trees in their prime this year, but the sunlight in the blossoms is pretty.

That might be a good background for my computer. :)

I thought my plethora of tulips was starting to fade, but they're standing back up again.

Granny's dianthus is looking ready to go.

Tiny Hope isn't joking around. Look at all those buds!

Birthday Garden

Okay, I have several pairs of pictures -- the first ones are from yesterday or the day before, and the second ones are from today. You wouldn't believe the difference. :)

My red tulips yesterday.

Today they look like a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.

Don't they?

The flowerbed looks so naked because the cedar is trimmed nicely, and I had just weeded. Don't worry, I'll fill it in. :)

Ditto for this picture. Look at the tiny little coralbells coming back up!

You can kind of see the buds on my bleeding heart. I have some (probably very blurry) closeups too.

This one actually came out remarkably well.

Wow! I guess I'm better than I thought.

Hostas sneaking up, curled up, out of the ground. (Yesterday.)

Today they're uncurling even more!

Isn't nature cool?

Grape hyacinth. So adorable!

Today they're a little taller!

Saturday I transplanted my main Kerry sedum to sit next to the serrated sedum.

Now it lives with its own kind because...

... my newest iris, Firebreather, needed to go next to his own kind.

Here's my new lily bed right after we'd put the rocks in place and planted just a few things...

... and now it has a whole line of Stella d'Oros in front!

Lucky Strike!

Today they're both open!

Yesterday my short little purple tulip was thinking about opening...

... and today it did!

Today I brought all these babies home with me, and tomorrow they'll go in the ground and you'll get a whole 'nother round of pictures. :)

This little guy looks just like an Indian paintbrush!

The return of the highlighter dahlias!

Two slightly different-colored tuberous begonias, to go in a pot together.

I think this is an Asiatic lily coming up. (Along with a not-so-subtle reminder to my sweet sister that my Dirigible Plums garden marker is bye-bye...) Yes, that's a broken robin's egg -- we found it in the middle of the yard and I thought it was so pretty it would be a shame to crush it.

I'm pretty sure this is my Sarah Bernhardt peony peeking out of the soil.

I finally trimmed back the old, dead branches from my Russian sage. I think it's happy I did.

Little columbine buds! The foliage looks so much like a geranium.

There's barely any pink left on my Lysimachia.

I just love these Lucky Strikes!

My pale pink Asiatic lily is multiplying! I can't wait to see all four stalks!

The first of what is now two Liberated Easter Lilies.

In other news, today it was finally warm enough in the house that we needed to open the windows. The cats loved it. Elphie spent a lot of the afternoon kicking Ginger out of this open window whenever Ginger dared to occupy it.

She then had this strange little semi-seizure, which I think must have been inspired by a bug.

Which she then presumably caught. And may or may not have eaten.

And here are the girls snuggling (involuntarily) with Dan.

See how much they love it?

Cute!