I don't know the name of these daffs but they are very prolific and still going strong!

Dee and PM2, I've been eyeing Veronica 'Georgie Blue'. I think some others on the NE forum also grow this variety and have raved about its color.

Claire, I love your N. Fragrant Rose. It reminds me of N. Salome, which I had at my other home. I grew them with apricot orange tulips (eventually eaten by varmints). That was a knockout combination while it lasted. Thanks, also, for your kind comment on my favorite rock. I actually bought it for my DH as a Valentine's gift soon after we married. (His gift to me was just perfect ---- seven yards of topsoil!)

Cute daffs, Sienna, in a nice combination too.

Dee, thanks, Quail is cute, I'll add that to the list.

Molie, now that is a gift I could warm up to too. Topsoil, or compost, or bark mulch, and someone to spread it too. (g)

Siennact, what is that shrub blooming behind the daffs? I can't quite make out what it is. Very pretty, and is it variegated?

Claire, you've sold me on that 'gold heart'. Now I have a quest to find one!

Wow, Molie, now that sounds like a man worth keeping around!

That's my daphne, isn't she gorgeous! 'Carol Mackie.' Here's another pic. From the other side she is lopsided from snow damage unfortunately. I think I'm going to have to prune off a big branch.

Siennact, I've always loved Daphnes but never planted them and now my yard is filled to the gills. And RE: my DH, yep! … he's a keeper… he loves to garden, too!

Siennact, I was wondering if it was a 'Carol Mackie', but I've never seen one so pristine. I usually see them looking a bit scraggly, so I've never planted one in my gardens. You have made me take a step back to rethink this shrub. I love the way you've paired it with the hosta. How long has it been in? Does it usually bloom reliably for you like the above picture each year?

A couple shots from this morning:

You know. sometimes it is just worth it to shell out some serious dough for a plant. Point in case is my double trillium. It cost me a fortune and I put everything else back on my garden cart at the nursery in order to purchase this one plant. I absolutely love the bloom. It's hard to tell from the picture but this flower is over 3" across.

I really like Exochorda 'The Bride' and I'm not sure why more local nurseries don't stock Exochorda in general.
It took a bit of a hit last summer but is bouncing back.

One of my favorite shrubs is Viburnum 'Popcorn'. It has such a great shape and blooms profusely.

I've been enjoying this jack in the pulpit this spring.

And the crabapple is coming into bloom. The chipmunks didn't eat all the buds off (yes, they've done that many years) so we have a good batch of blooms this year. We found that many of our crabapples would get tent caterpillars in the spring and webworms in the fall, so we got rid of almost all of them. This particular one never has a single pest bother it.

Oh wow, I've never seen a trillium like that! Gorgeous! I love my plain red ones. My jack-in-the-pulpit pales in comparison to yours as well!

The daphne has been there for about 7 years I think. I bought it as a rooted stick pretty much, so it's grown quickly. It does bloom very well every year, starting from year one as a stick with a flower cluster on the end.

Before I bought it, I read that they tend to have a nice neat form that requires little pruning, and the leaves stay nice and unchewed/unburned all year. That has been my experience so far. One of my favorite shrubs.

Lots of great plants, thyme2dig, love all of them. Such a nice vibrant color on your crabapple. The Japanese Jack in the Pulpit and double trillium are very pretty! I am sure you look forward to seeing those in the spring. I do like that Popcorn Viburnum. Does it produce berries?

Thanks for the extra info Siennact. I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for one and add it to the garden.

PM2, unfortunately, no berries on 'Popcorn'.

siennact: I've read that the Carol Mackie daphne often just doesn't perform well but yours looks like a resounding success. It must like your garden and your care.

thyme2dig: That trillium is worth whatever you paid for it (and all the other plants are worthy too). So chipmunks eat crabapple buds? That's new to me; squirrels eating rhododendron and wisteria buds are my nemesis.

Fothergilla 'Mt Airy' is blooming now next to some azaleas in one of my woody areas. My garden keeps getting woodier and woodier as the forest encroaches.

The variegated solomon's seal bloomed right after we finally had some rain. It's surrounded by various hostas in a bed under a wild cherry. Northern Exposure is one of the variegated hostas I'm trying to play against the polygonatum. This is I think the second year with the solomon's seal and it's filling in nicely.

I always enjoy the first sprouts of Hosta 'Big Daddy' - it looks like the makings of a good salad.

I like the yucca with cotoneasters and ajuga at the top of my granite steps. The cotoneaster has tiny red flower buds.

Tulip 'Carneval de Nice' comes back each year. Here it's next to the Sir Winston Churchill daffodil.

Claire

Claire, you're garden is as beautiful as ever. Your Fothergilla must smell heavenly. I saw them last week at the Clinton Crossing outdoor mall. I couldn't believe the fragrance. I followed the scent to them....reminds me of licorice... only better. I actually pinched off two pieces and started to try to propagate them. Hopefully, it's not bad manners to pinch little pieces. Let's see if this propagation works.

Tina, your Daphne is lovely. I don't think I have ever seen one before. If you do decide to prune off a branch prior to our Sunday plant swap, please don't throw it away. I love to have it to try to propagate it.

Susan, that magenta pink of the crabapple blooms takes my breath away. Now, I really want my husband to chop down that thuja on the edge of our driveway so I can have a crabapple too.

I am suffering from plant envy....so many lovely gardens!

-Tina

thyme2dig, did you purchase that beautiful Jack in the Pulpit, or did it just show up in your yard? I'd love to know the name if you bought it. I saw one - and only one - very similar to it yesterday and thought of you.

Thanks,
Dee

Dee, I purchased the jack. It is Arisaema sikokianum. It is huge this year. I wish great shade plants would show up in my garden. That would sure help my pocketbook. Definitely my most expensive purchases are in my tree peony/shade garden. I just can't resist. I'm sure there's no cure!! LOL!!!

Claire, apparently your chipmunks are polite and my squirrels are polite. I've never had an issue with squirrels and rhododendrons or wisteria. Which wisteria do you have? I have the american one which to me has VERY stinky flowers. Maybe that's why the squirrels stay away from it?
That fothergilla/azalea combo is most excellent!

Tina, that poor crabapple has been through the ringer. Moved a few times, and the woodpeckers really do a job on it. Each year I wonder if it will survive with so much of its bark pecked away. I do love the intense color of it, and it blooms at the same time as the euphorbia polychroma in the area around it. The screaming pink and chartreuse is shockingly pretty.

Thanks, thyme. I will check to see if this is the same jack I saw yesterday.

:)
Dee

thyme2dig: I think the wisteria is Japanese - I found a few vines left over from my mother's garden and I "trained" them into a sort of standard. It took years for it to bloom but it's pretty reliable now (if the squirrels don't get the buds).

The only rhododendron the squirrels nosh on is Percy Wiseman. I used to see the rhodie covered with buds in the winter and then they would disappear one at a time. So now I cage it every winter. Chipmunks are hibernating when the massacre happens. I took the cage off a few days ago when the buds began to open. This is Percy this morning:

Claire

The Hostas are starting to look really good right now. I'll try to limit myself to the ones that are the most dramatic. Here goes.

Beckoning, probably looks its best in May.

Guardian Angel

Lakeside Prophecy

Blue Hawaii, probably the bluest plant in my garden.

Dawn's Early Light

Journey's End, subtly variegated

Sum and Substance. That plant label is 24 inches tall.
{{gwi:980058}}

Key West

Spilt Milk

Blue Ivory

Lakeside Frosted Mint

Autumn Frost

And for those who like streaked plants, here's one of my seedlings.

I have a few other plants too.
Clematis montana Mayleen

The White Garden

Allium

Clematis buds

Steve

Steve: Hostas have really come a long long way from when my mother planted green funkia and variegated funkia (that's what she called them), and you seem to be growing all of the newest varieties. I'm surprised you still have room for clematis and rhododendrons and alliums. Alluring photos as usual.

Some more spring woodsy plants are blooming here. The first Spanish Bluebells - the white are opening first, the pink and blue are delayed a bit.

Assorted columbines with variegated euonymus:

Cotoneaster red buds:

And the dwarf conifers that are dominant in the winter are beginning to be submerged in groundcover but they're forming new candles. I need to weed out that grass and maybe some of the phlox.

Pinus sylvestris 'Albyn Prostrata' with ajuga and phlox.

A little bigger than dwarf but still not full size is Pinus rigida 'Sand Beach', a pitch pine that spreads horizontally. It's putting out a whole array of interesting cones.

Floating in a sea of phlox:

but if you look closer:

If nothing else, the local pitch pine gene pool should be greatly enriched.

Claire

Long view of perennial bed starting to come to life, finally.

My best yard sale find to date. $30 dollars for this pot, which was selling at the same time at Home Depot for $219.00! Now I just need to get better at containers.

Here's the link to the updated album of what's happening in my backyard.

Here is a link that might be useful: RI-Mike Photos

Claire - those are really adorable pine trees!

A bunch of pictures from my garden in May. In no particular order:
I'm really happy with my white garden this year.

Close up of the muscari

The tulips and muscari were looking fabulous last week - before the rain knocked all the petals off!

Azalea in full bloom

The shade garden is looking fabulous this year as well.

Mike, nice little greenhouse/hoophouse you've got there! I'm jealous! Of course, I'm just jealous of your nice flat land to put the house on, never mind the house itself, lol. Are those figs you've got in there?

Nice pics, Pixie Lou!

Dee

Dee,

Yes, I've just entered the world of figs this year.

That was a very good yard sale you visited, Mike, and the plants in the container complement it nicely.

Very pretty spring garden there, Pixie Lou. I think I see some fritillaria in the last photo - have you had any problems with the red lily leaf beetle attacking them?

I hesitated to post pictures of my berberis which is on the MA invasive plant list - I don't want to encourage people to plant them - I bought it back when I didn't know better (and it wasn't prohibited) but it's just so beautiful this time of year and I have no intention of ripping it out.

This is Berberis "Golden Ring" (the gold edge hasn't developed yet).

It's planted next to the pierises and I like the purple foliage with the new orangey foliage of the pierises. The berberis is about 5 - 6 ft tall and wide.

Very small flowers but the bees love them.

Claire

claire - i just got the fritillaria last fall. so it is my first year. i've had minimal problems with red lily beetle the past few years. not sure if it's because I usually use a grub-x type product - though I never got around to it this year. I also live next to wellesley where i think some parasitic wasp was released to kill the rlb. but i have not seen any damage to the fritillaria or the lillies this year.

Before May is over and gone, I guess I should post a few photos. First though I have to say how much I love the photos of trillium and jack-in-the-pulpits. I remember finding these wildflowers, and ladies slippers too, in the woods as a small child with my grandparents. In fact a small wildflower garden of these perennials along our wooded trail has been taking root in my mind. Perhaps next year when I have more time.

I just adore your garden Mike! It is like a meandering stream of flowers across your lawn! How lovely!

This spring I made the crazy decision this year to buy and plant 34 trees. The watering tasks associated with them has consumed us! Trees are us right now! I'm so loving these past days of rain, even though our lawns are turning into a hayfield! My gardens are in a deplorable state of neglect, but I tell myself I will play catch-up once the trees are established.

Despite my neglect, here are some of my blooms from this month:

(above) My bleeding heart by the front step.

Forsythia alongside the brook.

The daffodils were beautiful this year, and have spread. I plan to plant the entire slope behind these perennial beds with daffodils this fall. I think I have several varieties, all yellow, and all from the cheap bargain bin. The fancier varieties always died out, but these are thriving, and the rodents don't eat them!

My little American Spirit crabapple blooming inside the dogs' fenced yard in foreground, my Profusion crab in the front yard, and my neighbor's crabapple in full bloom across the road.

My Profusion crabapple in full bloom a week later.

Late last summer I thought my rhubarb plants had died out, but this year they came back vibrant and healthy. I guess they just disappear after they bloom, like the bleeding hearts. I made a delicious cherry/rhubarb pie for the third year in a row!

34 trees, spedigrees? What kind of trees? and this fall you're going to plant hundreds of daffodils on that slope? The slope will be beautiful next spring.

I love your crabapples in flower. I just discovered several mystery volunteer saplings in my yard are indeed crabapples, seedlings from a white crabapple up the street. This year two of them are in flower (another reason to limit weeding - you may find volunteer crabapples in your yard). They're not very photogenic yet so I'm not posting pics of them.

Geranium macrorrhizum 'Ingwersen's Variety' is blooming (I've almost got to the point where I can type macrorrhizum without googling the spelling - but not quite there yet). The geraniums are at the bottom of my stone wall next to cotoneasters. The cotoneasters started at the top of the wall and drooped over, some of them rooting in the lawn below.

and in another part of my garden Hosta 'Diana Remembered' is surrounded by the geraniums. I just planted this hosta last summer and it seems happy there.

The doublefile viburnum I bought a while back as a rooted cutting for $2 is blooming. It was just labeled "Double Viburnum". I look down on it from my deck.

And my wisteria is in bloom:

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Thu, May 23, 13 at 9:21

Claire,

Your garden is just amazing!

Every time I look at your garden, I want what you have. :-)

-Tina

Claire, I think you win the prize for best garden deal EVER. $2 for the viburnum and now you get to look down on a beautiful shrub. It must be a spectacular site to look down into the layered blooms.

Everyone's pictures are great. I see a lot of folks with white gardens and they are so beautiful makes me wonder why I don't have one!
Mike, that hoophouse is terrific!

I love when the crabapple makes it snow pink:

Here are some pictures of the gardens in the backyard that we put in a few years ago. It's amazing how much things fill in so quickly. Some of the color is definitely off in these photos from what it looks like on my disc and what it looks like in picasa. I'm not sure what is happening.

finally got all that clover out in the foreground yesterday!

And at the driveway I always love the spring colors of the japanese maple foliage.

Claire, I'm with you. I'll never get rid of my barberries. The front slope wouldn't be the same without them.
{{gwi:252067}}

I love your photo and remark about the "pink snow" beneath the crabapple trees, Thyme2dig. This analogy just popped into my head the other day.

My trees are mostly evergreens, blue and Norway spruce and balsam firs, two more flowering crabapples, and 12 maples, red and sugar, Claire. Also are a few lilacs and forsythias, although technically these are not trees.

Yes volunteer plants and trees are always interesting gifts, either from nature or from neighbors. Enjoy your white blooming crabapples; they are beautiful this time of year!

This post was edited by spedigrees on Thu, May 23, 13 at 17:22

Thanks, Tina. The camera allows me to selectively pick those areas of the garden that look good right now, and to avoid those areas that are not really photo worthy at this time or are looking particularly unkempt.

What really impresses me is a series of pictures like thyme2dig just posted. She shows the whole yard and the whole yard looks good!!! It's all well-planned and well-maintained and really admirable.

Anyway, here's a photo of my $2 viburnum as seen from the deck. It's not mature sized yet and I expect it to get 4 or 5 feet taller and wider so it should be much more impressive. That's a new little Viburnum 'Summer Snowflake' just beyond it that I also have great hopes for.

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Thu, May 23, 13 at 18:13

One of my current favorite spots in the garden includes a deep purple lilac, I think Ludwig Spaeth and the deciduous rhododendron 'Narcissiflora' with an underplanting of Veronica 'Georgia Blue'.

This combination of Hakone grass, Hosta, and wild columbine needs to be moved from this spot since it's now in full sun due to a tree removal. But for now, it's so bright on this gray day that the camera doesn't quite know what to do with it. I like that due to the short life of the columbine, it's rearranged a bit differently each year as the columbine comes up in different spots each season.

Thyme2dig, your yard is impressive! Did you design it yourself?

nhbabs, the purple and yellow is a nice combination. I have some lilacs with the house we bought. They were a sorry bunch and never bloomed. It wasn't until I decided to put down some shade plants that I discovered they were lilacs. I'm not sure why they were planted underneath a Kousa dogwood which was underneath a 40 or 50' maple. I don't have enough sun to support lilacs and hate to dig up and throw out living plants.

As for columbines, it's amazing how many different colors and color combinations are available. I am hoping to beg some seeds from people this fall.

-Tina

Nhbabs, I really like the columbine/grass combo. The purple and yellow makes a perfect combination. It's so pretty.

Tina, I did design the back gardens myself. I drew inspiration for the layout of the beds and paths from Pamela Harper's garden in VA. My mom is friends with her and I had the good fortune of being able to walk around her garden with her. We emailed back and forth quite a bit as I was planning the backyard and she was very helpful with some good tips.

As far as the plant choices, I knew I wanted to ultimately wind up with a layered natural effect, so I planted ornamental trees, the next layer of shrubs and the final layer of perennials. I did a lot of homework especially about shrubs and trees to find out their characteristics, seasonal interest, etc. So, I did spend a lot of time developing the plant choices to go in the backyard.

One of the things I am finding is that I need to group same perennials together to give them the same mass as the look of a shrub. This is the year that I'm moving perennials around a bit to accomplish that. I think in about 5 years the trees will have caught up and surpassed the height of the shrubs so it will be a bit more layered.

Here are some pictures from a window in the house to give a better perspective of the backyard. in the first picture to the right you can see the stone stairs that lead down to the driveway. Again, the color is way off and everything looks quite a bit redder than it actually is. We mulch in general with chopped oak leaves.

This has been a wonderful thread to visit and then revisit-- kind of like taking a garden tour without getting in the car.

In my yard the narcissus are done for the season. Many of my early perennials are drooping over from all the rainy/windy weather we've had --- but this rain has really helped to cancel out the deficit.

Claire, I love the contrast in foliage between your pieris and berberis---- plus the underside view of their dainty flowers. Sometimes I wish my yard were larger so I could play with the different forms, textures and coloration of leaves in larger trees and shrubs. Truth is, though, I'm just barely able to keep ahead of the work in our small yard! And yes, I agree with Tina that I feel more than a bit of yard envy as I look at your gardens.

Below is a photo of my two Percy Wiseman's --- really gorgeous this year. The one on the left gets more afternoon sun and so "finishes" earlier than the one up front on the right.

Steve, I always love seeing your hosta plants --- Autumn Frost is striking and I love the coloration in Journey's End. My DH saw your Blue Ivory and said 'Let's get one of those!' (Wish we had more room.) I also thought about Sum and Substance --- isn't that one of the older varieties of yellow? I think I remember that one from when I worked in a garden center. One thing I wish you would do is post a long view of your hosta garden area so we could see how the all the colors and textures play against each other.

Sped, your gardens are always so beautiful but what I love most about your photos is being able to see "peeks" of VT beyond your yard. Long ago I lived Brattleboro & one daughter went to college in Vermont---- I have such fondness for your state!

T2D, I can't leave out New Hampshire. I also lived in Keene--- miss it --- the wonderful people, the views of Mt. Monadnock and the scent of the pines around us. Do I see white pines in the distance in some of your pictures?

Boy do I admire your work in the back and side where the grass areas have become pathways through and around the garden "islands". This is something we've been working on, too. Totally agree with your decision to group the same perennials together to give them as much "substance" as your shrubs.

That crabapple "snow" is lovely against the variety of foliage--- darks, yellows, and variegated leaves. But honestly, I always love the view of your front slope and the stairs going up into the gardens. Oh, that I were younger and could work with stone again! Meh! Maybe I should just wish for wealth so that I could watch over a stone crew as they in my yard (lol)

RI-Mike, you are a dynamo! Your perennial bed will get even lovelier as we get more warm weather. I checked out your Picasa link and wow! That's a real professional greenhouse setup you've created.

Molie

The irises are starting to bloom. I have a huge vase on my kitchen table - i'm going out daily to rescue the ones that are being knocked over by this much needed rain. These photos were taken on Wednesday. At the time only 1 siberian iris was open - I must now have 100 in bloom on the back side of the pond!

Clematis Miss Bateman is having a fabulous showing this year.

Lastly - these mushrooms have cropped up. They must easily be 12" in diameter!

Pixie, how about a long view of the pond that will show all the iris? Love your Miss Bateman--- she must be over 8 ft tall. It looks like an even more striking clematis than the white Candida I planted on the arbor.

Only my Nellie Moser has bloomed. I guess we just need more sun.

Molie

Molie,

Sum and Substance is a chartreuse color. It does get lighter if it's in more sun. But it's a monster plant. Mine is 30 inches high and 6 feet wide and it's still not fully mature. Blue Ivory, however, is a modest medium sized plant. It will only be about 30 inches wide at maturity.

Thyme, I must say I find those pictures both inspirational and intimidating. I hope my garden someday looks half as nice as that.

One more pic for May. I finally got this one IDed thanks to the Peony Forum and thought the name fit this weekend. It's an Itoh Peony called 'Singing in the Rain.'

Steve

Everyone's gardens look so beautiful! Mine is so tiny but is all I can handle haha...but seeing all your beautiful plants makes me wish I had more room. ;)

I took a few pictures this morning now that the rain has stopped.

My Japanese maple is so red it almost glows

Allium, with blooming Baptisia and Angel Cheeks peony ready to bloom

I don't know what type of iris this is...I took a rhizome with one little frond that never bloomed in my neighbor's garden a couple of years ago, and it's now this monster. The stalks are 4' high

Allium with poppies ready to burst

Columbine 'leprechaun'

Spanish bluebells with Hosta 'Sum and Substance'

This area is already out of control. I will whack back the Geranium 'St. Ola' after it blooms...there is a path to the fountain buried under there

And I'll ask here because I can't get a consensus - do you think these urns are too big? I think a size down would be better but I can't find any.

KPaquette - I really like how the gray and white of your house complements the gold and deep red color scheme. I don't think that your urns are too large, but your step area is really too small for them. That is, I am not sure that any size pot will look comfortable there. Have you considered putting the pots in the garden just off the walkway, perhaps on some blocks to match your path and/or of the same height as the bottom step? That would effectively widen your entry and allow placement of your pots without making the step feel crowded.

Molie, I really like those 'Percy Wiseman'. I like that your pic shows the color evolution of the shrubs as they go from bud to bloom. If I didn't have a constant war with deer and Rhodies, I'd love to plant one.
LOL!! I always dream of winning the lottery! Not for plants, but for a deer fence, another well, a long fence along the side.....
We didn't do any of the rock work ourselves. We were VERY lucky in that our piece of property had all the rock buried on it from when they blasted through the road. As they dug the foundation, well and gas lines, all the rock was coming up. We saved it in a corner of the yard and a couple years after the house was done we brought someone in to put it all to good use. One of my favorite things he did was make us a stone staircase.

Pixielou, I would love to see a broad pic of all those iris in bloom. It looks like you have a beautiful collection. You also just ID'd my clematis. My mom gave it to me and probably told me the name which I promptly forgot. I do have a bad habit of not keeping track of the names of things I have planted.

Steve, that Itoh is KILLER!!! I'll definitely have to keep my eyes peeled for that one. I just picked up 'Bartzella' but I think that one is going to be so "common" when it's all said and done. Did you get that one locally, or mail order? Some of them can break the bank!

Kpaquette, I love your garden. You have a beautiful house. I agree with Nhbabs about moving the urns just into the garden to widen your entryway. I love those urns by the way. Do you have to repaint them often? Do you keep them out all winter? I really like the way you used foliage in the garden for a lot of interest. Which baptisia is that? It is so healthy and huge.
Can you get us a pic of the entire front yard? It looks like you really have some great curb appeal. The slate path is beautiful.

Aww thank you Thyme...It's small but jam packed haha. This is starting it's 5th year in the ground, we had Avant Gardens install it in 2009. The I believe the baptisia is ' twilight prairie blues'. It gets absolutely huge - like 5' across. Almost too big haha.

The urns are new, which is why I can't decide if I should keep them. I need to find a size smaller but that's proven difficult. I would leave them out year round though, and change out the plants with the seasons. I agree with putting them to the side to widen the entry but I really do want something on either side of the door. The step looks really naked with nothing on it.

It's hard to capture our whole house/yard. The front door is set perpendicular to the street and the garden is next to it, not behind like what's normal. Plus if I get far enough to fit the whole thing then you can't see anything because of the plants haha. I need one of those special lenses that makes small places look bigger. Here is a pic from the sidewalk -

what it looks like through the arbor. Eventually the trumpet vine grows in and hides the neighbors to the back.

from the street other way

Our solution to screening the neighbors house - ignore hubby. ;)

Oh, and my first poppy opened today. ;)

Thyme,

I bought that plant from Parks or Wayside 3 years ago for $35 I think. Not a bad price for an Intersectional Peony, but it was quite small. It flowered last year for the first time with just a few buds. This year it has exploded with dozens of buds all over the plant. These plants grow well enough, but take their time reaching maturity. Here's a shot of the plant. It's 3 feet tall and as wide.

Steve

I'm with Claire this year, ie cherry-picking those areas of my property that are not in a complete state of neglect, to photograph!

In fact I don't think that my yard has ever looked remotely as well tended as yours, Thyme, and I doubt that it ever will! I do love the islands in a sea of lawn look to your gardens. It is what I have tried to achieve with my three perennial beds. I also love your stone staircase.

Pixie and kpaquette, I enjoy seeing the photos of your Irises. It will be awhile before mine bloom, so it is a sneak preview. I love your poppy, kpaquette. They are so lovely but the blooms are fleeting.

The only thing still blooming for me right now is my lilac. It is a French hybrid that my mother gave us back in the 1970s shortly after we moved in. It has its quirks. The blooms have no fragrance and wilt quickly when cut and put into a vase with water. Also it doesn't produce suckers and can't be reproduced by taking cuttings. But it is pretty, and an old friend.

So many beautiful May posts!

kpaquette: Your house and garden are very lovely and I agree with nhbabs that the urns aren't too big but they should be moved down and out a bit to avoid that crowded look at the top of the steps. I have a feeling of deja vu here - did you post this question and photos a few years ago with different planters? I seem to recall discussing it before, but I could be wrong.

As a lead in to June, my first roses are just beginning to bloom, the rugosas.

Rosa 'Yankee Lady'

Rosa Blanc Double de Coubert

Even with the allergy season I got a whiff of the rose fragrance.

Claire

Great May photos! First time I'm seeing them, as my modem has been on the blink for a few weeks, so too many to comment on. This thread was the most difficult to open with so many photos. Maybe Part I and Part II for May and June might work out better? I'm not having trouble opening it now, but wonder if someone else might be.

Kpaquette, thanks for posting the extra photos. Your home and garden are just lovely. What a beautiful design. The patio looks so inviting. Love all the plant material.

Ditto! Kpaquetter, you have a lovely, charming home and garden. Very inviting. Thyme stole all my adjectives, lol, but I agree completely. Thank you for sharing.

Dee