May full of flowers

This month is so full of flowers and things to do. It is like nature woke up for us and put on a lovely show and we are busy doing the same. All sorts of invitations and activities come rolling in and sadly so many have to be left unattended but the ones we do get to participate in are rich and colorful.

Phyllis (mom) with her purple iris and one black iris lower right corner.

I have been lucky to have visited my mother in Manassas twice this month which allows me to see the results of the flower planting I have done over the years. Things like iris that bloom and are gone in two weeks I get to see this year. I surprised to see the black iris from Fairhaven Cliffs on the Chesapeake Bay bloom in her iris bed.  I thought I planted the black iris  and then it didn't bloom but the yellow one did last year... Those iris are tricky to predict sometimes they bloom the first year like my black iris did in DC and sometimes it takes two years for them to flower after transplanting. It was a delight to find them taking hold with three stalks! Juanita and Molly said they were "very hardy" when I was gifted a half dozen plants year before last from Juanita's garden.

darkest purple red iris is called "Black" by Juanita who gave them to us. 

Another richly colored delight is the gift from brother David of a red rhododendron which has tripled in size since we planted it and gave a big show of color this year. It's planted on the north side of the house which used to be home to a huge lavender colored rhododendron that had to be removed for some reason that is forgotten over the years. There is an empty spot there now where a tall hemlock evergreen tree met the same fate earlier this year. The tree was split at the top by a storm so it had to be cut down and we are still trying to decide what to plant in this bed. 

Finally the front porch planters are looking swift with hot pink geraniums, dianthus in red white and pink, magenta celosia and a pink with yellow striped calibrachoa and some trailing silvery gray vines. My photos barely show the colors but to the visitor it's a very pretty collection. 

Last today the hanging pot is filled with calibrachoa in hot pink and blue lobelia and one I don't know that is pale pink. 

It's fun to have a second garden to visit and help plant and plan. The hard part is for mom, she is there keeping it watered in the hot weather and watching for flowers which seem to take so long to appear then vanish before you can blink an eye. 

Next week I am excited to see the two peonies we planted two years ago bloom for the first time. Stay tuned for updates or visit my flickr.com page to see more as they are coming in from both our gardens and all around.