I left for the long weekend and was thrilled to come back and find that -- not only had my neighbor watered everything -- but all the buds forming last week had exploded over the weekend!

My Sarah Bernhardt peony is a mass of gorgeous, blousy blooms bigger than softballs, spilling over the tomato cage I plopped over the sprouts this spring. Stalks have snuck thru the fence and are busy blooming on the other side. The Miss America peony I bought last summer as a sad little 6 inch stick with one leaf is just as tall, and has 3 blooms already.

My Shadow Dancer floribunda rose is finally reaching up after 5 years, and is about 8 feet tall and a severely constrained 3-4 feet around -- and completely covered with it's first flush of blooms. Hot lipstick pink and white striped flowers with a killer scent (and pretty respectable thorns) it grows in a tiny little quarter circle up agasint the house with no fertilizer and uncertain water. It will bloom to a lesser degree all summer long, but the first flush is always the most spectacular.

The Othello rose is also blooming on the alleyway. Some of the canes are 6-8' and the roses, which start out bright maroon, open up to a huge, peony-like purpley-red, with an incredible raspberry scent. (And talk about some dangerous thorns!) The Red Grootendorst rugosa rose just went in this spring, but -- despite a little problem with (ahem) aphids -- has already put out a few little candelabras of rich red flowers.

My mock orange that I picked up at the central Ohio garden swap 2-3 years ago has been blooming for 3 weeks, and while the petals are starting to drop, more flowers are opening up every day. I love when the buds are just about to pop; it's like a big fat pearl slowly swelling its way out of the light green calyx.

The mixed Sweet William I WS'd last year are all blooming -- beautiful baroque fringed umbrels with every combination of pink and white and rich, rich red. The snow-in-summer I sowed at the same time is also covered in flowers with simple white blooms held above the grey-green foliage -- I don't know how long the flowers last, but even when they go, the foliage will be a nice crisp, cool presence.

The lilies of the valley are fading, but Karen Roberts neon pink tradescantia are going strong, and my mother's navy blue tradescantia is on the verge. And the pineapple mint, while it doesn't really bloom, looks like it has, with intensely varigated cream and pale green foliafe. The buds of the Husker Red penstemon are swelling; I love those pale pink flowers atop the intense red-green foliage.

I'm going out tonight to decapitate the chives flowers for vinegar and butters. The cinnamon basil is really pushing it this year; already I have pale lilac flowers peaking out of the dark red buds in a sea of deep green leaves. (I spend half my summer trying to hold back basil blooms so I get more leaves!)

The mystery mini-iris are just a memory, and the Siberians are too new to bloom, but my tall, mahogany-brown bearded iris have been blooming their heads off for over a week now. Black in the bud, they open up with yellow falls and a bittersweet chocolate stripe down the middle, then fade to a dusty red-brown. They grow in a "bed" that is 8 inches wide, at the base of the fence along the alley, and were a gift years ago from a neighbor. In the same alley bed the Siberian wallflowers are blooming in shades of yellow, orange, white and mahogany, and the few surviving painted daisies provide a hot pink punctuation mark.

I know I'm leaving somebody out, and will post pictures as soon as I get them developed, but.... what's blooming in your yard?