Spring in the Yarden

I was inspired by a few of the posts on By Night, and thought I would make one of my own. About weekly she features photos from I presume, around her yarden. All of her wonderful flower/yarden posts are titled balade au jardin.


So Monday, I walked L to school and then came home, grabbed my camera and took a walk around our yarden. Snickers was also very gung ho for the little walk about.

Snickers with her nose to the ground, pointing out the flowers that match her collar bling. We have a ton of violets. My mom gave us a few starter plants and now they dot the flower beds. If anyone wants some, stop on over, they transplant well and are easy to grow. Deer also eat them, which is fine as long as they leave my other stuff alone.

These lilacs are almost ready to bloom. I love them. They smell so good. These bushes are from H's mom. We moved them from Cleveland, to our house in Clintonville, to their current location at the edge of our yarden. This weekend I will cut a few. I might send some to school with L for teacher appreciation week. Each year the blossoms become more numerous.

Snickers engaged in a battle with the short branches and leaves and I am afraid to say, the branches won.

The bleeding heart is very lush this year and the blossoms on Monday were near perfect. I love this plant and its burst of early spring color. It is also very near the spot we buried Bundles, our beloved nutbrown, Netherland loop rabbit. She was our first pet and was with us for 8 years.

Lily of the Valley. H's favorite flower. His mother gave us this, dug it up from her yard, brought it to me in newspaper and I hurried to replant it. It took a few years but it is going strong now. I should be able to pick some tomorrow and have it in the house for the weekend.

In the fall H split these guys, even though you can hardly tell. All around the yarden are new little hosttas. They are so versatile and pretty. This bed used to have a crab apple tree, which I had taken down, as it made a mess on the deck and was good for a wandering toddler. In its place, I replanted these hosstas, some black eyed Susan's and other late summer flowering plants.

I have no idea what this plant is called (the purple is myrtle) but the long thin green leafed plant, will produce lovely yellow flowers in mid summer. I bought three tiny plants at Lowe's on super markdown, and lo and behold, it has morphed into this sea of green. This side of the house is FULL sun and finding plants who can take the beating sun all day has been a challenge.

My Peony plants. I should have glorious blooms by Memorial Day for sure. I think the white flowering things is a weed, but it is pretty enough, so I am letting it be. Some "weeds" are pretty enough to be flowers.

This is the first year in many, where our tulips have not been munched completely to the ground. We had always thought it was the deer, but perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps our vicious attack cat has scared off the rodent type vermin and that is the reason, I have been able to enjoy these lovely tulips. We covered them with chicken wire when we planed the bulbs, which keeps the bulbs in the ground. But... every year something munches them to the quick. Not this year.

These came from a live flower arrangement H got me for my birthday on year.

The tulips swim in a sea of lamb's ear. My mother gave us the start of this also. It has spread and that is a blessing. Out front is blazing sun most of the day and the soil is not fantastic and nothing has really wanted to grow.

Policing the yarden is tiring but important business.

And lest you think Snickers is sleeping on the job, here is a reminder that she always has her eye on the prize.

And when she is taking a nap, her new friends Hedgy and Edgy are on the job...

After our walk about, Snickers settled into one of her favorite spots and I went inside for some ice tea...