In my garden...

I love my sweet smelling lilies-of-the valley!


This is when my garden looks best, when the peonies are blooming. Roses are starting to bloom, too, but they are never as exuberant as the peonies. The hot pink peonies are just beginning to open. I don't know why they open later; perhaps just to give the white ones their days to be my favorites.


And, as a native Coloradan, I have to have columbines, tho' I do prefer to see them in the wild at the cabin. The wild ones are not as colorful (they lose their color after a year or two, then are just white for a few years before that plant dies off.) But the wild ones are bigger, and I don't have to keep the weeds out of them! It seems like my garden columbines invite grass to come grow among them. They want to feel wild, I guess. Toward the end of the summer, I usually just let them have their way, as they are in the back of the garden and the grass seems to make them happy.

My strawberries are also ripening a bit now. They are a few weeks later than usual, due to a cold, wet spring. My father-in-law comes for Memorial Day each year, and he is usually bringing in a big bowl of berries for me each day. So far, we've just had one small bowlful of ripe ones. But there are more to come! Home-made strawberry ice-cream is always on the menu when he is here.