Gardening

We've had two full days with plenty of sunshine and warmish temperatures so we have been tackling the gardens, working to get them cleaned up and planted for summer, which seems to be right around the corner.   Today was the last day of school (can you hear Paul crowing with delight?) and no school means that summer is here! 

So we've been weeding and planting, bringing some order to the many flower beds around the house.  The owners were avid gardeners and the beds are well designed but they definitely suffered in the twelve years that the house was rented out before we bought it.  

So this bed adjacent to the deck fencing....

...now looks quite a bit neater. 

And this area near the patio .... 

...has been trimmed back considerably so it is much less wild looking. 

There are many beds....four in front of the house, four near the patio, two near the driveway, one next to our neighbor's house, two near the shed, one at the rear of the house, three raised beds in the back yard, and then the mother of them all, the long perennial bed along College Drive.  In addition, there are four sections of lawn to mow and lots of edging to keep trim, so we have our hands full.  But this is probably the worse time what with all the overgrown areas to tackle and the rains making everything so lush.  Good thing Ben and I enjoy gardening and certainly love the results of our labor.

Every day we're learning what plants and flowers we have.  There are two big beautiful beds of iris just starting the bloom.  Here's the first one to open; what a beauty!  

We have several peony bushes.  This one in the back is the first to bloom.

I love this red!  I've only ever had white and pink ones before so this is a treat.  

 Fetcher is enjoying the nicer weather, spending his time roaming around the neighborhood checking up on all the neighbors and getting lots of love and cuddles from the kids coming and going to the elementary school across the street.  But when he sees us working in the yard he always comes to say "hi" ands supervise what we are doing.  He is Lord of the Yard.