Viburnum snowballs, dames rocket, and wild parsnip,
the last two plucked from roadsides

I love your funny face...



The peony petals are lopsided this year.



tree peony in profile



My poorly, stifled shrub gamely produced one flower this year; next fall
I go for broke and dig it up.
In a Campari bottle from Venezia.



Stealing Alan Titchmarsh



My near and dear genius IT consultant has figured a way
to push this and that little key on the laptop
to bring me bootleg programs of the
24/7 BBC coverage of 2012 Chelsea Flower Show.
Starring the future Sir Alan...I can just tell
he's got a big JONES for a knighthood, but
may have to settle for one of those
three-lettered honours for service to
the commercialization of gardening.
Excuse small sarcasm, but I still have the searing
memory of seeing Alan's mug on a corn flakes
box in a Tesco's years ago. 



My One and Only...



My poor, earnest tree peony stick--never enough sun, ignorantly crammed
years ago into
acidic clay, neglected by me, hacked at by careless lawn guys--- still has offered
unto me one bud this year.  Fingers crossed it opens
and I am there to see.  I may give in and dig it up
in the late fall and risk its death in order to find it
a better site, but that means goodbye any flower
possibility for a long time. 



adding a few dying stems of  hellebore really picked this up as it was fading away...

flower bunch o' the week



Some daffs still going, and I found some un-dead lilacs not yet
strangled by bittersweet in the overgrown hedge.  And some
junky shrub in the back field that once a year has
a ravishing scent with little white bell flowers all over
it that I can't identify.  And bugbane [?].  And little
wheat-top weedies.  Fun.  Cat likes it, too---hey, get off the
table, Jimmy!



Chanticleer!



By a very happy coincidence, I was able to get to Chanticleer, the fabulous show and pleasure
garden along Philly's Main Line.  Very cloudy and few people.  Filled
with birdsong.  The flush of thousands of daffs was over, but this garden is astonishing
anytime.  Most of the tree peonies there were also over, but this one, of a pair by the Chanticleer
House gate, absolutely knocked my socks off.  Socks I happily ruined
by tromping though the wet 6" high grass for several hours.  Oh my.  Oh my.  If I can
figure out how to liberate more pix from my antiquated camera phone, I'll post.



It's lilac weekend!!  The ancient lilac hedge is being attacked by vines, so I
see some grueling clearing work ahead.   See above for why it's worth it.

daffodillian explosion....

I can't say enough good stuff about the mixed daffodil bulbs crate
of goodies we got from Brent and Becky's in fall '10.  Now the hillside
is smothered in  dozens of glorious, scented, dainty varieties of
daffs, and I am passing out in delight!