A Peek at The Garden

We spent the majority of this weekend doing yard work.  It was backbreaking, but man was it worth it.  The yard is actually starting to look cared for after so very long of being neglected.  Here are a few photos of what's going on...

The peonie bud is almost fully opened.  I really can't wait to see this bush in its full splendor.

Michelle found these beautiful daisies at the farmer's market.  They're bright sun-shiny yellow with deep purple centers.  Absolutely gorgeous.  An interesting thing about them is that they seem to close-up and "go to sleep" in the evenings and open back up in the morning.  In fact, we have a broken stem in a glass of water in the house and it does the same thing.

I didn't realize it until I took the photos off the camera, but this tiny little green guy hijacked my photo.

As a general rule of thumb, I don't really like rhododendrons.  I find them to be an ungainly wild bush that's difficult to keep shaped--almost always "lumpy" looking and they attract large bees.  Plus, it lets go of those hard cigar-shaped brown leaves at the end of the season that you have to clean-up.  Not exactly a grower-friendly or welcoming bush and most people plant them right by the front door where they don't bloom well in the shadow of the house.  However, we have an overgrown one out in our field (aka "The Meadow") and it suits the space well--adds a lot of color to an otherwise brown landscape.  I took a few cuttings and made a small arrangement of the vibrant pink flowers for the dining room table.  Quite beautiful...

Michelle found this one small plant of purple pansies that apparently self-seeded (either that or they're some sort of perennial variety I'm not aware of) and transplanted it to a more prominent bed.  I've always liked pansies because they look like little lion's heads and appear to be smiling at you.  This particular plant was a bit droopy after the transplant but the flowers are still smiling away.