May in the Garden

This wonderful hebe is in full bloom.  It sits in the front garden as part of the little rockery.  You see a few of the other plants in this area.  The hedge was not yet clipped at the time of this photo.

Here is a photo of some of the tiny plants on the little rockery at the back.  These are last year's transplants that are doing very well.  I think they may get bigger than their tags say they will be.  The next photo is full of shadows.  It is the view of the strawberries in bloom and the newly transplanted Chinese vegetables.  Behind them are the big black pots, that I have yet to plant up.  Behind the black pots, are the tall bearded irises.  They are going to have a great show this year.  There are lots of buds now.  The last is the mermaid at the top of the waterfall.  I need to find a different place for the mermaid or make moss grow on it.
Yesterday and the day before I spent a few hours trimming the hedges along the top and down the side by Parmar's grass.   I also trimmed back the burning bush off their sidewalk.  Now, of course, we can see their garbage cans sitting out there from our front door.  Amazing... people will keep their garbage cans by their own front door.  I have yet to clip the little bottom hedge.  Since it is a bit misty rainy today, I am taking the day off.  I watered the deck plants a bit yesterday, also.  I moved the grass front and back.  Since I have the access to the back grass covered in vine clippings that will not fit into the big green bin, I devised a way to take the lawn mower up the two back steps.  I have a light board that is easy to place down as a ramp.  I take a short run at it with the mower and it works, really very well.  I may do this to get to the back grass, all the time, now. 

The vegetable patch and surrounds

this photo shows part of last year's newly made perennial and special plants area with one of the new heavier cement stones and one of the last year's decorative stones on the path. The path along the grass is flat field stones on a thin layer of sand. To the left is the border along the old cement path by the garage and to the right is the Japanese area /water garden and the vegtable garden. If you take the old cement path around the garage at the top of the left side you will be in the woodland area behind and on the other side of the gargae. The areas are small but definely give you the distinct feeling of being in a different 'garden room'. The apple tree needs the grass around it so that I can harvest and prune the tree. The branches coming in from the top right of the photo are the yellow plum tree branches. Its in the Japanese / water garden area.
In the forefront of this photo you can see the little lewisia. I have a pink and a white... nevada? maybe, and a few of the large showy varieties. The top of the photo shows the bottom of the veggie garden, including part of the rhubarb plant/
The strawberries are doing nicely this year. I do hope they get pollinated. I have some frozen ones for the next rhubarb and strawberry pie. The rhubarb can be harvested now.
This is the view past the little rockery, along the top of the garden path past the strawberries that are mulched, fed compost and slightly hilled up. At the back of the photo you can see the compost bags and 3 large black pots. I have transferred gladiola bulbs into one of the pots, but will need more annuals or perhaps tomatoes in the pots. The dill seed is in the row marked with its package. Across the path from the dill are the other herbs. I added some oregano to the spaghetti sauce last nite, but did not get the full flavour. I think I will add more next time.
In this shot I was standing by the Irises and shooting towards the grass (garage).
I added the brick edging along this little rockery to give me a bit of room to walk along its edge to tend the plants and view. I think it turned out rather well. It needs a bit more topsoil, then plants and the final pea gravel mulch. At the moment I have a cyclamen coum and the daphne to add. I have taken some of the very nice green mounding plant from the front and added it. It looks like it will thrive. I really like that plant .. wish I knew what it is. That upside down pot is hanging on the stump of the pear tree we took out. The pears were scabby and miserable hard things.
Primula marginata, potted, with its own special piece of rock. Its decorative to keep on the deck. I wonder if I should bring it into the house early next year to enter in the show. I can see that it is already too low in the pot. It needs a feeding as does the little willow.