Wednesday, May 31, 2017

In Praise of Spring Perennials




Yikes! Where does the time go! Burt, Ivy and Kibitz have been exiled to the closet for most of the month of May while His Madness and I dealt with a troop of delivery people. We usually end up ruining our spring with some sort of home improvement project and this year was no exception. Past experiences have taught us that leaving skeletons in plain sight around the house can produce a lot of anxiety in some individuals and make the whole ordeal way more awkward than necessary. Luckily, the skeleton crew took it all in stride and at least two of them remained their cheerful selves.




Warmer weather is in the forecast and I'm pretty excited that it's finally going to be decent enough to plant all the flowers, herbs and veggies I've been stockpiling since the garden centers opened up. 




Rosemary is supposed to impart peace to the living and the dead. Since our next door neighbors voted for Trump, Ivy is going to plant this beautiful specimen by our garden gate. Hope it works!





It's been a very damp and chilly month here, which is normal. On the plus side, it didn't snow. 




The upside to crappy weather is that the blooms tend to last longer.




The downside is that it's too icky to spend much time outside.
It's a vicious circle but I suspect that I'd be uncomfortable with it any other way.




Yesterday, the cold and rain alternated with blue skies and sunshine - hourly!




So I ran out and took photos during the sunny times.




I'm always grateful for the perennials in my backyard. They survive the snow and cold as well as floods, hail, heat, the lawn mower, weeds and my neglect, to put on a beautiful springtime show. Whatever Mother Nature or the neighbor's dogs throw their way they pop up and bloom. There are a few no-shows now and then but for the most part they are reliable once they get established - where they want to be! Ha! They do wander around occasionally but that's a story or another blog post. 




So now it's time to fill up the window boxes, pots and planters.
They will fill in the bare spaces when the spring perennials coast for the summer.




Except for this one that's already occupied.




 The next project to tackle is cleaning up the patio and that's always full of surprises.

Thanks for stopping by!