A few favorites. . .

There is a lovely soft rain falling today. The garden needs it. I find myself saying what my mother used to say, that we need rain. Even though I live in rainy Western Washington, when it dries out, it dries out quickly. Out come the hoses & sprinklers. I was already having to use them so I am happy for a gentle rain to do my job for me. Nature does it better anyway (another thing my mother always said).

Anyway, recently I snapped a few photos of some of my favorites in the garden blooming now.

This deciduous azalea fills the yard with fragrance. That lovely scent stopped me in my tracks at the nursery a few years ago and I had to have it.  "Soir de Paris"

You'd think living here in Western Washington I'd have a yard full of rhododendrons. I have not had good success with them for some strange reason. Last year this one did not bloom at all. I kept it watered all summer in hopes for a better showing. And about half of the bush is blooming. "Minnetonka"

I am wanting to successfully add more rhodies to the garden and have some ideas. One of my favorites is an old one in my mother's garden, "Pink Pearl". Every spring when I see it in bloom I go on the hunt for one. This year I successfully purchased one! Mine isn't in bloom now but is a nice healthy plant still in it's container. Here's some photos of my mother's plant.

The first blossom has opened on the orange oriental poppies. Long ago I planted a red poppy only to find it was orange, and I loved it. Such a bright cheerful color for the late spring garden.

 This is one of my favorite tiny plants with sweet tiny blossoms. It grows under the arbor in the Wedding Garden.  It is a type of hardy, true geranium which grow successfully in my yard. The deer leave them alone and they bloom all summer. They are all beginning to bloom. "Erodium chamaedryoides 'Pink'"

It seems that each day another favorite begins to bloom. I love walking around the yard to see the latest. Thanks for coming along with me!

In Bloom.

I am just in love with the unfolding of blooms in the spring.

All Spring I love to walk around the garden discovering buds about to open.

I greet old friends once again!

And anticipate tastes to come.

"Blossom by blossom the spring begins" ~ Swinburne

Spring gardening.

I had a dream the other night where it was 3 days before Christmas, ack! I was saying how the year just flew by and would soon be over.

Thankfully, it is only April, almost May.

Yet it does seems to be going by pretty fast.

At first it was too cold in the unheated greenhouse for starting seeds but before I knew it I needed to get those seeds planted.

And now I need to get the seedlings hardened off and into the garden.

Many little seedlings are growing in the greenhouse.

Poppies, morning glory, larkspur, more sweet peas.

Some of the sweet peas are now in the ground.

And a very late start on a radishes and lettuce.

Dahlias are getting a head start in the greenhouse and some new varieties are on their way.

A very busy time of year but I absolutely love it!

It's supposed to be unseasonably warm this week, yay!!

Hope you are enjoying Spring at your home!

I'm making headway with the fenced garden.

The corner beds for the sweet peas are filled.

I dug out all the weeds and grass from the larger rectangular bed.

And then I turned over the heavy, clay-ey, rocky soil.

 Less you think I'm being too picky about the emu soil, here is proof of the roots that have grown in the soil

I've been sifting the soil after trying to dig out the roots by hand.

 Hardware cloth works well.

Roots have grown within the soil.

 Beautiful, sifted soil for the new raised beds.

Almost finished with more soil to use as a mulch in the gardens.

I will be soon planting seeds, dahlias and seedlings.

I fell asleep on in the sunshine today, laying on the pile of emu topsoil.

It was heavenly!

It'll take more than a day. . .

After my long bout with infected eyes I managed to come down with the flu so it seems I was ill the whole month of March.  

But now it's April and Spring is bursting forth!!  

I've been busily planting seeds in the greenhouse because. . .

. . . hubby has built me new raised beds in the fenced garden!! 

The wood was prepared with a preservative,

measurements taken and the building got underway.

He can build anything. 

These narrow corner beds are going to be for sweet peas.

The other bed will hold dahlias.

 So now I am happily wheeling dirt to the new beds from my saved pile of emu topsoil. 

I've learned something, however, about keeping a pile of dirt that close to the forrest. There are roots everywhere within that soft rich soil. I am pulling out as many as I find in order to avoid perennial weeds or brambles from getting a foothold. The plants in those beds will have a cushy life compared to the woodland with plenty of fertilizer and water. No squatters allowed!

It takes many trips back and forth. Worked all afternoon but didn't quite get one of the beds filled. 

But then, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Neither were Popeye's muscles.