May is for gardens

As of May 15th, I have planted all of the new material at my house, and finished planting my Dad's gardens. I also took a lot of photos, to establish what's happening this year. I'll do more before and after comparisons later, but for now, here's a sample of what's new.

Our small raised bed has never been spectacular. I moved a few ferns and hosta, and replaced them with a perennial that's new to me called a Turtlehead. How can you not love a plant with that name? I put in three for now, later in the season they should send up spikes of pink flowers. In front, I have a variety of exotic annuals, and I have entirely forgotten the names. But I put the plant tags beside each, so I can figure out what they are.



The side of my house was a huge hosta bed. It was spectacular during the two weeks of the year when they bloomed, with fragrant, lily like white flowers, but for the rest of the year, it was boring. I divided the hostas, and interspersed about a dozen different daylilies, all blooming at slightly different times. The lump of ground cover is some very successful vinca. This just proves that a gardener can't leave well enough alone; last summer that side bed looked all finished, so I had to take stuff out and start over.



And finally, we put a new rhododendron in the front to replace the purple sandcherry that we took out. It's not so big this year, but it has flowered. It will be an evergreen, which is nice for that spot, and it should do a lot to cover the unsightly brown paint on the foundations. I also have a pvc lattice to cover some of that.


The Rhodo is in back, the lovely big plants in the front are my Anabelle Hydrangea, and the Snowmound Spirea.