inside the tree peony

Canon S3 IS on super macro shooting into the tree peony blossom a few days ago.

The vegetables seeds have germinated. We had a bit of rain over last week end so that helped them along a bit.

Yesterday I weeded the little Japanese garden area. I clipped the shrubs back a bit. I still need to weed under the deck and around the pond. I must put down more pea gravel in the dry stream. The dry stream is the corner of the pond that overflows if it gets too full. The water runs down the gravel river going under the lantern. The water at this point is not visible and simply soaks into the surrounding area. In the summer I top up the pond's water level weekly. The moss in the Japanese garden area is slowly filling in between the shrubs. The little red cut-leaf maple looks really good this year. I am finishing up the big clean up jobs just about the time I am well ready to go into maintenance mode.

The irises, the thyme, columbines, the tree peony, the lilac and the alliums are blooming. The roses, oriental poppies and campulas are just starting to bloom. Most of the spring bulbs are finished. This year, I should clip the bulb foliage back and give them all bonemeal in the Fall. I am really pleased to see the snapdragons have survived to bloom again this year. And after we had all that snow and cold. I always thought they were annuals, but these are the same plants, not a reseeded bi-annual. I wonder if I should get some more this year, so that I will have some again next year. I should try that, with a different color snapdragon, in a different spot, probably in the front garden as there really is no room at the back.