They followed me home...honest!

Is anyone else having a May like this? We went through a spell of very nice, warm and sunny weather for a few days in a row; a little bit of rain or fog here or there, but nothing serious. I was planning to clear up some time so I could work in the garden this weekend, and what happened? The temperature dropped, the wind came up out of the north-east, and YUK! I don't wanna go outside. And I haven't, not at all on Saturday. Perhaps today, but we'll see what the morning brings.

Life has been madly busy, which explains both my lack of posting here, lack of answers to comments, and more seriously, lack of visits and comments on my favourite blogs. But I think most of us know what that's like; suddenly, the good weather comes that we've been waiting for (even if for some of you it started months ago) and all those things we wanted to do outdoors we can now do. But with the weather this weekend, I guess i'll stay inside and catch up on the indoor work and play, then take a day off next week when I can go outdoors.


On Wednesday, I went to Annapolis County to give a talk at the Clementsvale Garden Club, and that was great fun. Of course, I also had to stop at a few different nurseries and check out plants, though I resisted the urge to bring home very many. In the past week, however, there have been some great temptations throw themselves at me, so, smitten as I am by Urgent Plant Seeking Madness...I brought them home.

Top photo above, 'Sooty' Dianthus is such a lovely rich coloured flower, and while I had it for several years, it didn't come back last year, so it was time to add a couple of new plants to the chocolate-and-wine garden.

And as I prepare to develop my rockery this year, this pink pussytoes, or Antennaria dioica 'Rosea' batted its eyelashes at me (sure it did, didn't you see it?) I love the rich flower colour contrasted with the silver-green foliage.


Yesterday on my way back from Berwick, I had to stop at Briar Patch Farm and Nursery for a quick look around. I studied the hellebores for quite a while, but then decided instead to try my hand at growing a Lewisia again. I had one for several years that did just fine, and then I'm not sure what happened to it. The secret to lewisia is to give it perfect drainage, very little organic matter, and in my part of the world, protect it a bit from drying winter winds and excessive wet with some sort of protective mulch like evergreen boughs. And the jewel-like colours really get to me.


As many of you may remember, I'm obsessed with echinaceas, and have a fairly healthy collection of them. They're just starting to push through the ground, and so I thought that was as good a reason as any to pick up 'Lime Coconut' echinacea while I was at it.


On my last trip down to bug Rob at Baldwin's Nursery, I collected three native witherod viburnum (Viburnum nudum, formerly V. cassinoides) but also had my eye drawn to the handsome Judd viburnum. Into the truck it went along with three native red maples (Acer rubrum) and a 'Makamik' flowering crabapple. And a magnolia sapling. And a couple more Ilex verticillata (female Canada Holly).


I used to not do well with geums, but once I developed a bed with real good winter drainage, things turned around for me, and there are both yellow and orange geums to brighten up a midspring planting. I like these as much as I do perennial potentillas, which also began doing very well for me once I added them to the same well-drained area. So when I spied this 'Mango Lassi' geum the other day, I knew I had to have it.


And naturally, since I'm totally thrilled with the dazzling talent and obviously nice personality (and he's not hard on the eyes, either) of one of the three finalists in this year's American Idol (I NEVER watch the Canadian version because I despise Ben Mulroney), I had to have this Geum too. Its name?

Cooky, of course!

I don't think the geum will play a Les Paul guitar any time soon. But it's definitely a star in my books.

Oh, I crack myself up sometimes! :-)