The Garden in Late April

The garden and the weeds are doing well,

despite a hard freeze a couple of weeks ago.

 My first peony is in bloom.

In fact, this is the first time this peony has bloomed for me,

as it is a young plant.

Peonies are long-lived perennials and have been known

to live as long as 50 years or more.

 The chives are in bloom.

The flowers can be picked, cleaned and used in salads.

They have a sharp, garlicky flavor.

 One of my foxglove that I had planted last year

is blooming.

Foxglove, or Digitalis, is poisonous.

Do not ingest any part of this plant.

The plant is used to make digoxin, a heart medicine.

 The Latin name, Digitalis, comes from the fact that 

the flower can be fitted over the finger, or digit, like a glove.

 My late-flowering lilac, Miss Kim, is flowering early

this year.

 The rhododendron in full bloom.

 The azalea in full bloom.

And another azalea in full bloom.

Now, I just have to get there out and weed and trim.

No rest for the gardener.

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.

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!

Greetings from the Garden, Part II

The garden is slowly waking up. Unfortunately, the weeds are miles ahead of both the desired plants and the poor gardener.

The rhododendrons.





Bearded Iris.


The baptisia australis (false indigo) is just beginning to bloom.



Columbine.


Another columbine.


Bearded iris blooming amongst the lilacs.


My first rose of the season. Looks like the bug-wuggies have been busy munching on the leaves.

The azaleas are hiding in the landscaping.


Yet another columbine.


I seem to be running a cat hotel. And my cat, Midnight, is not happy about this at all.