In bloom this week: May 2, 2016

There is no such thing as too many rose blooms

Before I fill this page with roses, a few other flowers that are blooming this week.

One blue poppy, this is meconopsis 'Lingholm'. I bought two plants from the Rhododendron Garden in Federal Way in March, this one is blooming now and has another bud visible. I can't tell yet if the other will bloom this year.

Blue poppy

Common camas, just planted earlier in the spring. The great camas finished blooming last week, this looks very similar but smaller. I hope to have more of both next year. 

Common camas

Aquilegia, on my sunny hillside - see the cottonwood fluff? No wonder so many people have allergies right now.

Wild strawberries, mixed in with the aquilegia. I planted these all over the hillside years ago, now getting rid of the grass that grew in and finding these still surviving. They get very tiny berries, hard to even pick. 

Wild strawberry

One Dutch iris, in the rose garden.

Dutch iris

Now, a few more roses!

The iris is not quite blooming yet, but getting closer. I tinkered with the succulents in the pot behind it, and also see the lupine getting ready to bloom on the right. 

Other flower and vegetable beds

Iris ready to put on a show

I've mentioned that I'm trying to focus on three main areas of the yard this year. There are so many things that I could do, but I know I won't get anything done without focus. The rose garden and sunny hillside are coming along nicely though, and I'm mostly keeping up with the invasive plants in the back corner. Meanwhile, I have been doing a little maintenance work on the rest of the yard.

This was my vegetable garden but is now starting to be taken over by flowers. I decided last year that I actually like growing flowers better, although I enjoy a few vegetables. This area gets full sun year round and is quite hot and dry in the summer. The soil has too much clay, and eventually when we have to replace the retaining wall (which is rotting in the back), we may put in a raised bed.

Strawberries

A whole section has been taken over by strawberries, with mint and hollyhocks. Vegetables that I've planted: kohlrabi, bush beans, cucumbers, dill, corn and sunflowers. Oops, not a vegetable. I usually buy just a few pepper and tomato starts too.

The clay pot in front is an experiment, I just stuck it where a giant dahlia was that didn't live through the winter. I think the slugs got it, because temperatures were never very cold. There are poppies, small delphiniums, lupine, irises, two other dahlias, and green onions all in here.

Flowers in the vegetable garden

A few years ago, we started to get some type of invasive grass growing in the lawn, so I decided to just dig it up and plant flowers. This is in the middle of a grassy slope just below the vegetable garden.

Flower circle

This salvia has been coming up every year, although I think it was sold as an annual. There are also two types of monarda (bee balm) and gladiolus and irises. The irises were just transplanted from under a row of trees where they were being eaten by slugs, so they are very sad looking.

Salvia

Our front yard is on a slope too, but a two level retaining wall creates a flat space at the top. That's where most of the roses are, and a small lawn area. This bed is in the middle of the retaining wall levels, shaded by the house and by overgrown lilacs.

Shady garden

There are true geraniums, English daisies, balloon flowers, two types of lavender and daffodils in this bed, plus lemon balm that is pretty much going wild. The lavender and balloon flowers did better before the lilacs were so overgrown, so they may get moved next year. Well, the lilacs need to be cut back a bit too.

I bought two blue poppies this year, looks like one of them should bloom.

Blue poppy

Also just last weekend got three foxglove, which I hope will do well. In the background behind the foxglove is a narrowing section of this bed, with a large rosemary bush, vinca minor groundcover, and a small red maple.

Foxglove

And, can't forget the peas! They grow much better in this bed, with more shade, than down in the hot sunny vegetable garden. There are two hollyhocks behind the peas too, which did very well there last year.

Peas!