The butterfly bush is showing signs of life.
I hacked it back and left it alone for a bit. I looked at it the other day and saw little green nubs. They are small, but they are there.
I have not completely killed it yet. Yay!
Meanwhile, the fig has new growth too. Happy, Happy fig.
The front shady bed is all abloom as well.
From left to right, wild geraniums, may apples, trillium and lillies of the valley.
Lillies of the valley are the best smelling flower ever. Not only were they in my bouquet when we got married, I wore a crown made of them and hellebore. (Perhaps why both are in my garden today?). The entire front yard has such a nice smell right now, especially the front porch, adjacent to that bed. That bed has taken years to fill in. There really was not a coherent plan to it, we just kept dumping shade loving plants and I kept hoping the lillies would fill in, which they finally did, after I don’t know how many years.
Gardening takes such patience.
I think patience is one of those over-rated virtues. I don’t have patience, but gardening requires it.
I think gardening is in cahoots with motherhood to make me a better person.
The latest of the pink trees on the corner is blooming.
It’s a horse chestnut buckeye tree Pat planted a few years back to replace a rather large, dead evergreen tree. It’s not quite big enough to be as glorious as the magnolia or the dogwood, but it will get there.
Again, patience.
And it’s pink. How much do I love that he willingly picked another pink tree for the corner?
These blooms have a touch of yellow. They are quite lovely. I’m sure I will be spending more time standing at that tree in the next few days, staring at it, trying to capture just the right shot of those blooms.
The oakleaf hydrangeas are showing buds too. We have two of them, both planted two summers ago and this is the first bloom for both.
This one was literally a stem and two tiny leaves when I plopped it in the dirt. Nothing like a little compost, love and patience to make a plant grow.
My rose bush has buds on it as well.
That plant was a house warming gift, 13 years ago. It has gotten moved more than anything else in my garden. Other people rearrange their furniture, I rearrange my yard. I put the rose bush in the ground, the trees near it grow bigger, it stops doing anything, I move it. Repeat. The last move, two years ago, I put it in a location where we do not intend to plant any more trees, it is a dedicated sunny spot. And finally, two years later, the rose bush has realized I mean it and has a few buds. I’m so excited. The flowers from this plant are incredibly fragrant. It’s just outside the living room window, so I’m hoping it makes the house smell sweet.
We have a neighborhood fox. It had some sort of altercation with a cat in our back yard the other night at 3:45 am and howled for a good half hour after that. It woke up every dog in the neighborhood who then all had to bark. So much for sleep that night. Yesterday, I turned around and out of the corner of my eye, saw out the back door, the fox, hanging out in the back yard by one of the canoes. It’s big. I later happened to notice there was fresh scat (what those naturalist types call animal poop) right there in the middle of our front entrance. After a family viewing and discussion, Pat, who knows about these things, said that yes, it was most likely that of a fox. I do have some close ups of it, but really, do you want to see up close shots of fresh fox poop? Clearly this creature is circling our house and making itself at home. Suddenly, I’m a little worried about the arrival of the chickens. Does the fox know we are getting chickens and is making himself(herself) comfortable in our yards in anticipation? I guess we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?
It’s really all about being patient.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 
Your garden is a busy place! I love seeing all the stuff coming alive in springtime.
Loved seeing your pictures of new green! And the pink blossom, beautiful!
That fox must be psychic. I know about predators around here and a fox is one of the worst for taking chickens. Between eagles, hawks, owls, foxes, stray dogs, skunks, raccoons and snakes (not to mention the cougar that tried to climb into our bird enclosure some years ago) our girls must have felt they lived in a fortress. I'm keeping “safe” thoughts for your new babies.
Your plants are lovely! How weird that you have a fox hanging around just when you're about to get chickens.
Love seeing what grows in other regions of the country.
Hydrangeas and trilliums and figs! Those names are like poetry to my high elevation ears.