Bloomin' Things: May 18, 2013

There are so many things blooming in the yard right now that it might be easier to list what's not blooming this week.  The wiegela is still blooming; the hummingbirds have been enjoying it all week.  There's an azalea that's still going strong even though the others have been finished for a while now.  The strawberries and blackberries are still blooming, and there are starting to be some small, green strawberries on the plants too.  The blueberry bushes now have lots of yummy blueberries forming.  The cheerful yellow snapdragons are full of bloom in front of the dining room window.  A red asiatic lily on the back hill is gorgeous.  The yarrow is blooming (white in the back yard and pink in front).  Swamp milkweed, a newcomer to the garden this year, has already started to bloom.  This is a native that acts as a host plant for butterflies.  And depsite its name, it's actually pretty drought-tolerant once it's established and isn't weedy at all.  The red amaryllis is still blooming and a white and red one has started blooming as well.  A purple ice plant in the rock garden has started blooming.  The pomegranate trees are forming their lovely orange buds, and the cherries are ripening.  And, of course, the roses are just hitting their stride.

Swamp milkweed 

White yarrow; I love it for its ferny leaves.

The sempervivum in the goat pot is "growing long arms" as my yoga instructor used to say.

The snapdragon may have been the first flower I recognized in the garden as a child.  It was one of my grandmother's favorite plants, and I remember her showing me how the "dragon" would bite your finger if you put it in its mouth.  When she passed away, we decided to forego the traditional roses and instead put a huge spray of snapdragons on her casket.  Everyone at the funeral commented how beautiful they were and how my grandmother would have loved them.

Happy snapdragons

An interesting iris

Red asiatic lilies with raindrops. Yes, it's raining again!

A hardy ice plant, or Delosperma cooperi in the rock garden

Amaryllis 

Ripening cherries 

I'll have to keep an eye on the cherries to make sure the birds don't eat them all before I get any.  These are the tart, or pie cherries (it's hard to grow sweet cherries in Georgia). My grandmother cooked them in pies, but I've always preferred to eat them straight off the tree.

An old-fashioned rose of my father's is blooming.  

Speaking of roses, I took a walk last week in a lovely rose garden, stopping to smell all the wonderful blooms, especially enjoying the antique roses.  My favorite that day was a huge old bourbon rose, the rosa 'Zephirine drouhin.'  Introduced in France in 1868, this sweetly-perfumed rose has cerise-colored blooms and thornless climbing canes.  Its scent seemed to evoke a particularly peaceful and happy mood for me.  A few hours after finishing my walk, I was presented with a wonderful offer, which I have since accepted.  To celebrate, I found the rose online that night at The Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas, and ordered one for myself.  It's already arrived and been planted next to the back garden's gate where I can smell it as I come and go from the garden.  I will post updates as it grows and blooms.  At the moment, it's a scraggly little thing who lost some leaves in transit (which is to be expected), but it will soon recover and become a beautiful, fragrant reminder of that day for me.  I think the moral of the story is that you should always take time to stop and smell the roses.

Wishing you happiness in spades,

M.R.S.