The Early May Garden

The days and nights have been warm

and the garden has flourished.

 The mailbox garden is looking nice.

 Baptisia australis or false blue indigo.

 Bearded iris.

 Another bearded iris.

 Tradescant, an English rose.

 Another English rose, whose name escapes me at the moment.

 This is the rootstock, Dr. Huey.  

The original rose died.

I like Dr. Huey, so I have kept it.

Many modern roses in this climate are grafted 

onto Dr. Huey as it is a strong rootstock.

 Yet another bearded iris.

 My foxgloves are doing wonderfully.

 The Money or Honesty plant is going to seed.

This plant is grown for the decorative seed pods.

 Stokesia.

 Oenothera speciosa, or showy evening-primrose.

 Nigella, or love-in-a-mist.

 Lambs ears.

 Clematis.

 Close-up.

 Columbine.

 Another one.

 And another one.

 Spiderwort.

You don't want to brush against this plant when it is wet,

or you will find that will be dyed purple.

 Clematis going to seed.

 Gertrude Jekyll flowering up through the 

butterfly bush.

 A garden vignette.

 The mock strawberries are fruiting.

These are not good eating.
But they are pretty, so they are staying in my garden.

 The first garden bouquet of the season.

 Oh no, not again!!

Really?

Those Mutinus elegans.  Phft.

After the Rain

It was a dark and stormy night. Really? Night is dark? No wonder that sentence has been voted among the worst opening lines ever for a book.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Yes, it did storm last night, and the evening before that and the afternoon before that. It stormed to the tune of 3-1/2 inches of rain.

Let's go see how my garden fared, shall we?

My azaleas are blooming.

I just love this lichen. Can you tell?

Another azalea is blooming.

The Canada Red Chokeberries are beginning to turn purple.



The Little Kim Lilac is putting on a fine display.




While a Columbine nods nearby.





My Spiderwort, or Tradescantia virginiana L.

Oh goody, the Foxglove (Digitalis) that I planted last spring are blooming this year. Just remember, the heart medicine Digitalin is made from Digitalis, so no part of this plant should ever be ingested. Even a small bite can prove to be fatal.

This Rhododedron is just beginning to bloom.

While its neighbor is already in full bloom.

The Baptisia australis, or False Indigo, is just beginning to bloom.

Up on my deck, the Provence Lavender is coming into flower.

Well, what do we have here? This, uh, interesting specimen is a fungus known as Mutinus elegans, or the Devil's Dipstick. As might be obvious, this is a phallic fungus. While you ponder that bit of information, I'll just say that I was glad that I can't really smell anything right now because this fungus is in the stink horn family.

Really, right there where just anybody can see it!