Things are really kicking into high gear in the gardens. This provides me much new subject matter but less time to write! Maintaining and upgrading these gardens does involve a little bit of time. I was going to say “unfortunately involves time and work” but decided it was not unfortunate. I would not appreciate the beauty nearly as much without the time investment. Planting, mulching, weeding, fertilizing, and otherwise tending these plants and gardens makes me appreciate them all the more. Working so closely with them I also see tiny changes and bits of beauty that I might otherwise overlook. I guess what you put in, you get out. Above is my new climbing rose called America. The tag says it is a coral pink and I love the color. It has the best bits of all colors, a little pink, a little peach, a little red in the buds. It has it all. I am also hoping that I have found a climbing rose that will survive the cold of the recent winters. We will see. For now I am enjoying the beauty.

I move on to another garden and see one of our nine barks in full bloom. The foliage is the main draw on this shrub. It has attractive red leaves and weeping branches and, you guessed it, various types of bark. I don’t think it is known for its blooms but as you can see, it does briefly, put on quite a show. It reminds me of something that should be a wedding decoration.

This is a shot of the corner garden. Over the nine bark you can see the red buckeye and the arbor vitae in a row on the corner of the yard. All this hides the stop sign and the corner intersection. Just one example of plants beautifying an otherwise mundane area.

This is one of our two red wygelia. The blooms are glorious if short lived. It is an attractive plant with its red leaves, even once the blooms are gone. I understand that they can become quite large. I will have to report back to you on that in a few years.

This is one of the verbena we have in planters on top of the garden wall. They were recently planted but already starting to become something I like to pause and look at on my wanderings around the yard.

And of course, the peonies. They are one of the best things about this time of year. They smell heavenly and are beautiful too. The mass of them is eye catching from a distance and they are equally impressive individually. I need to get more of these beauties! They come in other lovely colors too. I planted a Sarah Bernhardt last year but although it is growing well, peonies are slow bloomers so we will hope for blooms from it next year. Meanwhile, it is peony season so I will enjoy the show.