Dwarf Crested Iris

can be used as a ground cover

complimented by Blue Ridge wake-robin/twisted petal trillium/propeller trillium/Trillium stamineum.

Drooping beneath the leaves is the mayapple. There's a large colony in the woods out back.

Spring Green

White dogwoods

and

white azaleas are heavenly.

 Missouri Botanical Garden Spring

Japanese Maple

is recovering nicely from last year.

From the front door,

looking toward my neighbor is an urn I have in the past used as a rain catcher.

Azaleas

and rhododendrons join 

the spring flourish.

Captured Moments

Wild Is The Wind

Hosta

is all about pattern, texture, 

size, 

and color.

Dogwood Days

are here.

Iris cristata

photo courtesy of Roger Black

are about six inches tall and  native to the April woods of Tennessee.

Choirboy/Andrew Johnston

Spanish Bluebell

photo courtesy of Roger Black

Spanish Bluebell, Hyacinthoides hispanica, (also referred to as Wood Hyacinth) grows to 18 inches, taller than English bluebell and the flowers are powder blue, pink or white. It blooms later too, and will grow in sun or shade. If you live in a hot climate, choose a shady location. They make a nice transitional flower, after the early spring bulbs, but before the perennials. It's hardy even for Zone 3, and can be grown in warm climates too. Spanish bluebell will tolerate drought much better than English bluebells, which do better in moist areas. Mixing the three color varieties at the edge of a shady area, where they will still receive sun is a nice location. They are also lovely in the middle of a border. Brenda Hyde

My Garden

IF I could put my woods in song

And tell what's there enjoyed,

All men would to my gardens throng,

And leave the cities void.

In my plot no tulips blow,--

Snow-loving pines and oaks instead;

And rank the savage maples grow

From Spring's faint flush to Autumn red.

My garden is a forest ledge

Which older forests bound;

The banks slope down to the blue lake-edge,

Then plunge to depths profound.

Here once the Deluge ploughed,

Laid the terraces, one by one;

Ebbing later whence it flowed,

They bleach and dry in the sun.

The sowers made haste to depart,--

The wind and the birds which sowed it;

Not for fame, nor by rules of art,

Planted these, and tempests flowed it.

Waters that wash my garden-side

Play not in Nature's lawful web,

They heed not moon or solar tide,--

Five years elapse from flood to ebb.

Hither hasted, in old time, Jove,

And every god,--none did refuse;

And be sure at last came Love,

And after Love, the Muse.

Keen ears can catch a syllable,

As if one spake to another,

In the hemlocks tall, untamable,

And what the whispering grasses smother.

Æolian harps in the pine

Ring with the song of the Fates;

Infant Bacchus in the vine,--

Far distant yet his chorus waits.

Canst thou copy in verse one chime

Of the wood-bell's peal and cry,

Write in a book the morning's prime,

Or match with words that tender sky?

Wonderful verse of the gods,

Of one import, of varied tone;

They chant the bliss of their abodes

To man imprisoned in his own.

Ever the words of the gods resound;

But the porches of man's ear

Seldom in this low life's round

Are unsealed, that he may hear.

Wandering voices in the air

And murmurs in the wold

Speak what I cannot declare,

Yet cannot all withhold.

When the shadow fell on the lake,

The whirlwind in ripples wrote

Air-bells of fortune that shine and break,

And omens above thought.

But the meanings cleave to the lake,

Cannot be carried in book or urn;

Go thy ways now, come later back,

On waves and hedges still they burn.

These the fates of men forecast,

Of better men than live to-day;

If who can read them comes at last

He will spell in the sculpture,'Stay.'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fuchsia Windchime 'Dark Eyes'

tolerates more heat.

Hummingbird Bath

Wildflower

Fire Pink/Silene virginica is so called because of the little indention in the petal as if it's been pinked.

Japanese Maple

red is like a giant bouquet in the landscape.

Creeping Phlox

in all it's glory is easy to spot in the landscape.

Pieris japonica/Andromeda

New Pieris foliage looks like flowers.

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.

 You know how it is with an April day 

When the sun is out and the wind is still,

 You're one month on in the middle of May. 

But if you so much as dare to speak, 

A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,

 A wind comes off a frozen peak,

 And you're two months back in the middle of March.

Robert Frost

Dogwoods

are beginning to bloom.

Ornamental Peach

even after last year's harsh conditions looks beautiful.

Blue Violets/Viola sororia

are everywhere. I love them.

Wildflowers

Trillium is up and budded.

Eastern Bluebirds are feeding on mealworms.

Bellis perennis/English Daisy

English daisies like cool temperatures and afternoon shade.  

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

arrive first. Females arrive later. We have seen some males that seem to be just stopping by to tank up on nectar and move on. This one, however, has been around all day and has been perching in a nearby tree to oversee the feeder. As you can see, he likes the pineapple sage.

Narcissus Salome

I've always been disappointed with Salome until it bloomed for me in Zone 6. It's prettier here in the cooler temperature.

Calibrachoa 'Superbells' Scarlet'

in a hanging basket is now on the deck. Last year I had a yellowish one. It bloomed profusely, and lived long into the winter before finally succumbing to the cold. It must be placed in a protected spot for the stems are very brittle and break easily. Soon it will be large and covered with blossoms

New Guinea Impatiens 'Super Sonic' Red '04'

Blossoms are so huge on such a small plant. 

While it is cool, I will enjoy the Fuchsia 'Shadow Dancer' Marcia'.

Hummingbirds

Costa Rican Hummingbirds

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)

Pineapple Sage

Come, come to me little one. The HummZinger is filled and all the flowers await you. Pear, peach, cherry, forsythia, daffodils, violets, dogwood, honeysuckle, pansy, sage, salvia, candytuft and hellebore are here to welcome you.

Migration Map

Arrival 10:30 A.M.

Well, hello. We've been expecting you.

Hummingbird Slideshow

An Established Garden

Gardens are so perishable; they live on only in books and letters; but what has gone before is not lost; the future is the past entered by another door.  Elizabeth Lawrence.

Have you ever fantasized of buying an established garden and watch what magically appears thoughout the seasons? That's what Beautiful At All Seasons is about.

It's cherry blossom time. I've added weeping cherries to the garden this year.