If someone could just hit the pause button on spring, that would be greaaaaaat.

Even with garden organization, spring is a crazy busy time of year for us gardeners.

Are you feeling the same? I’m telling you, I cannot keep up! Weeds are having a field day with the warm spring temperatures. It’s only the middle of April and they are already being bullies. I’m always pulling out this creeping Charlie, but at least it’s pretty 🙂 Don’t even get me started on the crabgrass… grrrrrr!

A weed called Creeping Charlie

But I never use herbicides, just mulch and my fingers to pluck them out. It’s really important to not use herbicides to protect our dwindling honey bee population and all the beneficial insects not to mention butterflies.

So I let my fingers do the walking oh and this handy new tool I bought myself last year that is great to dig down close to the root. Works great for dandelions. I don’t mind the dandelions in the lawn, but they take up too much valuable resources in my flower gardens.

Here’s a spring gardens photo tour of my from 5 days ago and they already look different! It really is magical, everyday I walk out and look to find something new has emerged. Isn’t nature inspiring?! I tell you, I’m ready to paint everything on canvas! Just as soon as I finish this…  hahah who am I fooling? It will never be finished. I just have to schedule painting time and gardening time. Where is the April rain? That keeps me in my art studio.

Fernny fern fern un-furling – fun to say!

Here’s Spooky! dianthus

This is what the flower will look like – I see how it gets its name, don’t you?! (It’s not blooming yet, this is from last summer’s photos)

“Spooky” a ghosty looking dianthus flower

Iris’s, coral bells, hardy geranium, Siberian iris and hostas in background

Take a closer look at the huge coral bells called “Autumn Bride”.

Autumn Bride – Coral Bells (heuchera)

shady garden area

along the front of my house

Here’s a close up of a flower that I moved last year to get a bit more sun and it’s much happier. Foam Flower. I’ve had this for years and years and it’s never flowered like this until now. I need to move the rest of them!

Foam flower

Circle garden – not so circle

Isn’t this purple leaf sand cherry beautiful backlit?

Sweet smelling Jose lilac. It’s a re-bloomer 🙂

waiting and waiting

My swing garden – home of the Jose lilac

I love the blooms on this Viburnum.

close up of the Viburnum flowers – they remind me of lace cap hydrangeas.

My Brown Turkey Fig has grown!

top of a favorite tree – corkscrew weeping willow

Let’s head down to Studio Gardens (the gardens in front of my art studio) – and my most popular Pinterest pin! These stone steps. Click to see the post.

looking down the rustic stone steps I installed a few summers ago.

and then looking back up!

along the greenhouse wall

I’m not sure where I’ll hang this yet, but I couldn’t not get it!

My newest addition to my garden – a celestial plaque.

So as you can see, I’ve got a lot of work still ahead of me. It’s always a labor of love but weeds wait for no one!

Thanks for strolling with me. Come back and see what I end up painting. I’ve got an art show in a month plus Mother’s Day, so I need to get busy! Art makes a great gift.

Learn more about me on the ‘About’ page in the menu at the top. I’m an artist – a painter mostly and an avid gardener. I paint a variety of subjects including birds, koi fish, my gardens, ponds and flowers as well as anything having to do with nature especially trees and tropical scenes. I also enjoy painting abstracts and have started created more and more of them. My most favorite thing to try to achieve in my painting is is mystery.

If you would like to keep up with what I’m doing, I have a newsletter e-mailed about once a month that gives you special status for invitations, birthday greeting and more. I’d love for you to add your email to my Friends and Collectors list!