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.

The Garden in April

The garden is beginning to take off

and the colors are exploding.

It's enough to make even the most hardened of hearts melt.

 Until last year this azalea had been hidden under

two barberry bushes.

Finally, it is its time to shine.

 A Columbine.

 A Heuchera, or coral bells in bloom.

 My Rhododendron in bloom.

Typically, rhododendrons and azaleas do not do well

in this area as they like acidic soil

and we, being in limestone country, have alkaline soil.

I seem to be blessed as my plants are doing well.

 Close up of the rhododendron blooms.

 English Perfume, an English Rose.

And yes, it does smell quite lovely.

 I'm sorry that it opened too late for the Hawthornes to enjoy it.

 Gertrude Jekyll, another English Rose.

This is a highly perfumed rose.

She is also very temperamental.

 Stoksia.

 Another Columbine.

 Glade bluestar or Amsonia tabernaemontana.

 Clematis.

 Yet another Columbine.

 Another view.

And what is this???!!

I'm so ashamed.

I'm just glad that the Hawthornes weren't here to see this.

This is mutinus elegans, or the Devil's Dipstick.

It is a phallic fungus as one can easily imagine from its appearance.

Hmph, and right out there where just anyone can see...

Spring Flings

Welcome,

and join me in a meandering tour of all things spring.

My bearded iris is blooming.

As is the Baptisia australis,

or False Indigo.






The chives are also in bloom.



Bonus, the blooms are edible.



Just remember to rinse them off first

to get rid of the little bug-wuggies.





My Little Kim lilac is in full bloom.



Lovely.

This columbine is also flowering.

One of my azaleas is happy to greet the spring.

This beauty is an English Rose,

created by David Austin.

Please meet Gertrude Jeckyll.

She is a highly fragrant rose

and a perfume industry has sprung up in England

to harness her heady scent.

Think old-world roses,

think a heavy, heavenly scent

and you just might come close to

imagining what this lovely lady smells like.

I really do wish you could smell this rose.

Unfortunately,

Gertrude Jeckyll is very prone to black spot

and is a somewhat weak grower.

But if you catch that scent,

then you are hooked.

This is the new bed by the new deck.

I placed several perennials in here,

including but not limited to,

yarrow, mallow, artimesia, peony,

garden phlox, echinacea, yada, yada, yada.

In the foreground is my new rose,

the Knockout (tm) Rose.

Some annual nigella (love-in-a-mist) have reseeded here also.

The dear husband is spreading mulch over newspaper.

The newspaper will help to block out the weeds

and will also eventually break down and feed the plants.

Very nice.

Thank you, dear husband.

These plants will take off now that they have been mulched.

This morning the storms rolled through.

At 8:45 AM it got so dark that the solar lights turned on.

Now, that is dark.

A little while later the seasonal stream that runs through

our neighbor's yard and ours filled with water.

A seasonal stream means that water only flows in it

during a heavy rain.

I went out after the rains and caught some of

of my flowers in bloom.

The foxglove is flowering.

Just don't mind the bindweed and the

locoweed.

I haven't gotten to this part of the garden yet.

One of my peonies is showing off.

Another Gertrude Jeckyll rose is blooming.

I really wish you could smell this rose.

And now on to another sure sign of spring

in Southern Indiana.

Morels!

I picked out four morels

from my local grocery store.

The sign on the bin read $59.99/lb.

And now you know why I only got four

and why I also purchased a package of Crimini mushrooms.

However,

after leaving the store,

I realized that the store had only charged me $37.99 a pound.

So, for these four morels, I paid $3.80 or 95 cents a piece.

Still a pricey proposition

but better than it could have been.

I shook out the morels and then rinsed them three times

until no more bug-wuggies washed out.

This was the first time I ever had bug-wuggies in the morels.

Go figure.

I wiped the Crimini mushrooms clean and cut them in half.

Then they sauteed in olive oil and butter over high heat

until browned.

Once they were nicely browned,

I seasoned them with freshly cracked black pepper and

sea salt.

Never salt mushrooms while they are cooking

or they will sweat and steam rather than saute.

The Foodie Boyfriend has found a new love.

These were good.

They were better than good.

They were great.

And that is why these elusive delicacies

cost up to sixty dollars a pound.