This was a super busy weekend (Communion practice, baseball games, birthday parties, charity walk) so there wasn’t a lot of time to spend outside. Although with the temperatures in the low 90’s on Saturday and Sunday and a huge rain storm on Sunday night, this wasn’t really the weekend to hang with the plants.

But, that doesn’t stop me from my daily trips around the yard to check in on my little buddies to see how they are coming along. Here is some of what I found:         

The Viburnum Plicatum ‘Shoshoni’ is in full bloom and smells phenomenal. While my attempts to relocate the other one that was right next to this one failed miserably (RIP), I must admit that these look much better as a specimen shrub in a foundation planting.
 

You know by now that I can’t get enough of peonies so you will have to put up with yet another shot of them. As usual and as expected (cause they’re tough as nails) here come the numerous blooms. I think one of these years I am going to start a peony blooming party where we all drink to our hearts content and just stare at the buds until they bloom.
 

OK one more … couldn’t resist with the rain drops on them. 

The Campanula ‘Joan Elliot’ (isn’t that the lead singer of Def Leppard … never mind) is blooming profusely although here they are weighed down a bit from all the rain. Still … gotta love that color!

The Ninebark ‘Summer Wine’ is filled with buds and should be in full bloom by the end of the week. While the blooms are beautiful, I really like the shape of this shrub and the way the branches cascade to the ground. It has become a true focal point in the bed next to the deck.

The Crabapple ‘Prairie Fire’ has finally stopped blooming but I love the color of the new foliage early in the season. Soon come the berries.  

Wow John it’s a …. a …. leaves growing on a shrub … how stimulating. Well, this just happens to be the final plant to show signs of new growth so to me “oh cynical one” this symbolizes that the garden has fully arrived. By the way, if you still care, it is a Clethra ‘Hummingbird’.   

And now the bad. This hydrangea has numerous leaves that have turned brown and look like they are crisping (my technical term) and dying. It is definitely not from a lack of water as we’ve had plenty of rain. It does get a bit more sun than is typically recommended, but that has not been a problem in the past. Help!!  

More dead-ness. Could it possibly be the close to freezing temps we had about a week ago? I did not see any signs of critters either. 

Now we are getting personal and I’m ready to go all Rambo on whatever is messing with my Knockout roses. I saw no signs of anything underneath the leaf and it hasn’t completely taken over … yet. It’s bad enough with the Japanese Beetles later in the season. Can’t I enjoy these with nice foliage like everyone else does?    

And finally today, this is what you see at the entrance to the house from my back deck. Do the words make sense? Not really. Does it effectively keep the monsters out of our house? Like a charm. My four year old daughter is on to something. Maybe we should patent it now. Seeing things like this while outside and fretting over plants makes it all a lot easier to take.

Another busy week ahead and the goal outside is a very simple one. Remove every weed by hand and get the beds in tip top shape.

Until next time my friends.