Peonies and Other Late May Delights

Delphinium 'Bluebird' is starting to bloom in my Front Border. One of my favorite flowers,
probably because they are unusual for Iowa (due to our hot summers). They are certainly
glorious when they can be persuaded not to die and maybe even to flower as a bonus.
They seem to tolerate this spot in my garden for some reason, so I think
I'll let them stay.... :-)

My gardens are in full swing -- some of the most delightful flowers are blooming now: peonies, iris, clematis, poppies, lupines, field daisies -- and the roses and delphiniums are just getting started too. It's a very exciting time in the garden!

I've been pretty busy planting the last things I have left to plant, mostly annuals and a few perennials. Then I intend to mulch quite a few areas and will undoubtedly spend a lot of time getting pickup truck loads of wood chip mulch from our local landfill and putting it on some garden beds. The weeds are gearing up too, unfortunately, so this will be a crucial time to get on top of them.

And I've vowed that I will not make any new flower beds this year, but I'm thinking about doing a major overhaul of one of my larger borders next year, and I've been thinking about exactly how I might do that... we'll see. We gardeners are never satisfied, are we?

But back to this year -- here are a few things that are blooming in my gardens lately:

'First Arrival' Itoh Peony is indeed the first bloom from the
six new Itoh and tree peonies that I planted in April.
Very exciting! 

This 'Sarah Bernhardt' Peony I moved to the West Island last year is looking good. I love peonies!

Clematis 'Multi Blue' shows up well against my white garage. It blooms fairly well considering that it's on the north side of the building and rarely gets direct sunlight.

Clematis 'Henryi' is blooming nicely in the White Garden.

The Pond gardens are outlined in 'Sweetness' Dianthus that live up to their name -- the scent can be smelled at some distance. The 'Prairie Breeze' Buck roses planted in the corners of the four beds are also starting to bloom. And even the water lilies are blooming in the pond. Puppy approves.

A closeup of one of the water lilies.

Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum) is blooming for the first time since I planted it near my garden shed door.

An impulse buy from Menard's the other day, right next to my front gate.
I thought the birds were so cute!

I hope you are enjoying many lovely blooms at this wonderful gardening time too. Thanks so much for reading my blog when I know you must be incredibly busy in your own gardens!  -Beth