Here is installment two of my mid spring garden tour. These pictures are over a week old and man o man things are rapidly changing and growing like crazy! I love it!

This time of year everything is so fresh and green. Usually the temperatures are in the mid to high 70’s but today as I write this Mother Nature must’ve gotten confused because it’s almost noon and it’s 53˚ and I’m fr fr freezing!

We could talk weather all day, let’s get on with it. The last post (part 1) I took you through the north side of the gardens including a new garden I’ve just started I’m calling my Friendship Garden. Today, I’m sharing the other side of the house which is still the front of the house but the south side.

In our yard, we’re lucky enough to have very large mature trees. We’ve got Tulip Poplar, Silver Maple’s, Golden Rain Tree, birch, bald cypress, weeping willows, Black Walnut (grrr), pines, dogwoods and various trees, shrubs and what not. Most of the front yard is shaded but there is an area that gets a lot of sun.

I’ll jump right into the photos and try not to be so long winded. While you’re standing there looking towards the round garden, swing, greenhouse and lake, walk forward and I’ll show you around the round garden as I call it (well because it’s uh, round – so original huh?)

First up, the Stokes Aster. Funny thing about this plant is when I bought it, someone must’ve traded out the labels because it was supposed to be pink and ‘Klaus Jelitto’. Imagine my surprise when it bloomed. I wasn’t too happy, but it’s been some years now and I’ve grown accustomed to the periwinkle blue it will bloom.

Okay, this next one is a false indigo like the one from the part 1 garden tour but this is a different variety. It’s a burry image but I’m not as impressed as I am with the native one. Maybe when it takes hold, or maybe it doesn’t get enough sun. It gets shaded a bit now under the large maple. I think this is the 3rd year for this plant.

we’ll pass by some boring daylilies to get to these little babies I have been watching like a hawk for what seems like eons. I sprinkled the tiny seeds in March I think and it’s been slow going. These are poppy seedlings, the seeds given to me by my friends Ruth and Tom.

Skipping over more plants as we walk around the round garden, this happy little Blanket Flower (Gaillardia) is just starting to flower.

This is worth a closer look…

Everything else in the round garden isn’t doing anything yet so we’ll skip over to what I lovingly refer to as the septic garden. Yep, our septic tank is somewhere under there. I was told not to plant anything over it by the hubs. So it all started innocently enough with a whiskey barrel of flowers and a shepherds hook. Well, it kinda grew. Then the whiskey barrel rotted away finally and I moved the plastic (yuck) one in it’s place until I find a pretty one big enough. He’s not said anything, yet. Do you think he’s noticed?

I just love these dianthus (pinks). I have a few different colors and I’ve divided them up all over. They are such a bright happy pop of color in the spring and on and off through summer. Finally in fall they have a bit of a comeback even.

We’ll cross over to the beds along side of the house starting with this Weigela ‘wine and roses’. I’ve got a thing for dark foliage plants.

Here’s a pretty little flower that probably doesn’t get enough sun. It’s a penstemon, ‘twilight prairie’

Next I’ve always got to have roses. They remind me so much of my mom. She loved them all, but the red ones were her favorite.

Next to the rose is a peony about to bloom and behind it clematis. Funny how my pictures don’t look blurry on my phone when I take them but when I upload them I have to toss many.

Keep walking to the left… here is another dianthus I had divided last year. Behind it I’ve got ‘Gold Mop’ False cypress, hostas and along side is daylily, and astilbe.

This rhododendron is fairly old, like maybe 10 years but it’s never gotten real tall. It has spread wider more than anything. I love the mix of color and texture here. I even let the yellow flowers stay cause they’re pretty. I think they are an invasive mustard though so I’ll have to yank it. Soon, the coreopsis ‘moonbeam’ (I think) will flood the area with yellow flowers.

Next to the coreopsis is daylily, garden phlox which there are 2 varieties – 1 is blooming lilac color in the back mingling with the pink rhododendron that is only 2 years old. Further to the left is heavenly bamboo (nandina) another favorite shrub that turns red in the fall and keeps its leaves.

In this next photo, you can see a lot of the flowers I just showed you. Here I have daylily and hardy hibiscus that I got in a grab bag I think from Gurney’s years ago. I’ve never been real happy with the color (white with pale pink center) but I leave it there because it’s doing so well.

You can just see the edge of my greenhouse attached to the house here. The garden spire is protecting a giant elephant ear given to me by a friend Lana. It just hasn’t decided to come up yet.

You may wonder why I have to protect the elephant ear. Well, my dog Zoey thinks this is a great place to get up on the roof of the greenhouse (yes) and look in the window to the kitchen if I haven’t let her back in the house soon enough. And yes, I scream at her every time but she does it anyway. Apparently, I’m trained well because I immediately let her in.

So another daylily apart is this hardy geranium. I’ve split this up a few times and I’m really happy with this plant. It has pretty leaves and blooms on an off through summer after a flush of purple blooms.

I bought a pack many years ago of mixed colors, but the purple were the only ones that survived.

We’ve made a circle and we’re back at the swing. Here is the side of the swing garden. Soon, it will be an ocean of purple clematis flowers and it will be gorgeous! I need to cut off all the columbine flower seed heads before they drop their seeds. These spread like wildfire in my garden. I love the dark pop from the Japanese maple my friend Kelly gave me. She digs up seedlings each year and pots them up and gives them away. It took like 5 plants, but this one finally took. I killed all the others.

I have a Knock Out Rose below the clematis vine (growing up that arbor thingy my husband made for me) but last year I let morning glory grow all over it and nearly killed it. I had to cut it almost to the ground and I’m not sure it’s even going to survive, it keeps wilting and dying.

One of my favorite combinations here… Giant hyssop and this sedum ‘Dazzleberry’. Columbine, too and the Japanese maple with its burgundy leaves behind.

The front of the swing is looking not so great. Weeds just take over so quickly and I have a lot to take care of, probably too much but I love it.

This is taken from behind the swing looking down towards the lake. That honeysuckle vine was given to me by Kelly also. She got it from a mutual friend Jane. It was just a twig when I planted it. I love how plants make their way through the hands of friends.

Remember how I said everything has changed so much even since I have taken these photos? I took these May 13th and the last photo I’ll leave you with today was taken May 18th. She bloomed!

Come back to see the next round of the garden tour which will be going down into Studio Gardens! Sign up to get my posts sent directly to your email and you won’t miss a thing! It’s on the left side bar. Thanks for looking!

If you’re new to my blog and website have a look at my ‘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 in the form of expressionism. If you’re interested in my art, I have a newsletter mailed about once a month that gives you special status for invitations, birthday greeting and more. Sign up here for it.