Back to the garden. As a gardener, it is so gratifying to see your work from last year blossom and grow. I have lots more to do but things are coming together. Not everything blooms at once, thank goodness. From month to month there are highlights to look forward to.
Around here, May is hydrangea time. Last year I put and/or moved several. Here is the one in the corner by the porch. That's Chi Chi exploring the catmint in the foreground. The pot contains some annual lavender. I love the smell of lavender. It blooms after the jasmine, so there is always a great aroma outside the screened porch.
The conferderate jasmine is still blooming some. It's a heavenly smell and the hummingbirds love it too. It is on the chain link fence between my neighbors carport and my yard. Makes a nice privacy screen. In the foreground, that's Charger, one of my Collies, and Pee Wee the kitten.
The chicken wire, above and below, is around some Zinnias I have coming up from seed. I didn't want the dogs stomping them when they were seedlings so LSH put up a temporary fence around them. Another long-overdue project is to change the landscape logs out for some stone. The logs just don't last!
More hydrangea. When I bought this one it was on sale and the nurseryman did not know what color it was. Surprise! It's a pretty pink one. See the creeping jenny? My new favorite ground cover. It seems to really like the beds outside my porch.
Hydrangea next to the chimney. This one is three years in this spot and doing well. It's a Nikko blue. All of my hydrangea are mop head, I think! Next to it in the containers are a parsley pot (which overwintered this year) and a succulent garden. There is some more creeping jenny and some purple asters that will bloom later in the summer. I am trying to keep this end of the bed to purple and yellow hues.
Below are the Shasta daisies I tried last year. Think I'll get some more this year. Next to it but not blooming yet is balloon flower. It's very reliable and will bloom blue this summer. I also got some white balloon flower last year. We will see if they do well.
I also wanted to show you the new hammock location. This isn't a great photo. I'll do a better one later. As you can see, it is now on a pole vs. the old rotten apple tree. Four kids were playing on it last year and the tree came down right at the ground level. Just broke right off! The kids laughed it off and no one was hurt. We missed the hammock for the rest of the season though. So LSH dug a hole and cemented in a sturdy pole plus plant hanger.
Another project for this summer will be re-painting the garden shed. It's a bit of a mess now. I have lots of inspiration but no perspiration yet! The trim, windows and window shelves need a coat of white. You have permission to remind me to get busy on this!
That's the late May garden here, warts and all. Let me see your garden soon.
Joining Etsy Cottage Style garden party.
