Around the garden end of May

Ah, spring! I love, love, love this time of year. The temperature is in the mid 70's, we are getting enough rain that I am not spending hours watering and the weeds have yet to overwhelm me. Let me show you a little of what is happening right now in my garden.

My clematis is in full bloom and the scent blows me away every time I walk by. We never set up our citronella candles last year and the clematis has now grown up and threw them.

My bridal wreath spirea is in full bloom and cascading down the retaining wall and on to my worm compost bin.

 In my shade garden the Hosta have fully rolled out their leaves and the Lilly of the Valley is in bloom. Here the Helleborus is still looking good after beginning to bloom in February.

This is my favorite Hosta but because I got it a garden club plant sale I have no idea what it's name is.

 When I plant seed or summer bulbs in my garden I mark them with twigs or here a chopstick so that I don't plant over them before they emerge. I have a bad habit of not remembering where I have planted seed and when I see a blank spot in my garden I fill it! This is the seedlings of White Lace Flower, a Queen Ann's Lace like annual with clean white bloom that I have never seen available at a garden center. I got the seed from here.

My irises are in full bloom in what I call my driveway garden. I practically divide these every year, they thrive in the full southern exposure and heat between the driveway and the house. I think they smell like candy- which means I really like them. In between them is Daylilies which will bloom in the summer as well as my Dahlias which will keep this area in bloom until the first frost.

 This is a pink poppy getting ready for an amazing show. I got this plant as part of a six-pack of mixed baby Poppies so I didn't know it's color until last year. I probably would not have put it with a bright orange Iris if I had, this will be what I call a retina burning color combo!

One of my all time favorite shrub, the Red Veined Enkianthus.  They are slow growing but as a result really never need pruning. They have these great bell shaped flowers in the spring then great red foliage in the fall.

 Columbine seed regularly in my garden, this one chose to try to make my ugly front stairs look better.

Not everything in my garden is sunny happy and good. I have these little stinker on my Viburnum. The first picture shows the tell tale damage the second picture you can see the culprit.This little stinker is viburnum leaf beetle larvae and is left they can defoliate nearly the entire plant. My plan of attack it to clip off and depose of most of the affected branches then spray with BT.  Bacillus thuringiensis is a stain of bacteria which can kill caterpillars and larvae but is not harmful to other insects in the garden. You can find it in most garden centers.

So not to end my post with a picture of a bug here are a few of my peonies getting ready to bloom- happy gardening!