Mid-May Garden

I have few words this week, the plants are doing all the talking for me. I'm so busy with the garden, working, taking care of it all this time of year that it's hard to keep up. All of a sudden a switch went on and we're full speed ahead. I did stop to take a few photos of the garden this week, here is a brief look at Chickadee Gardens mid-May, our fourth year into this wonderful garden project.

Colors are exploding in the sunnier parts of the garden, especially.

Blooms on dark-leaved Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing', a pretty little, short-lived perennial that seeds around a bit. But so lovely. 

Unknown bearded iris. I love the dark color of these. I had yellow and other colors that I gave to gardeners who loved them, this was the one of the only ones I kept.

Diascia 'Piccadilly Dark Red' has been a delightful little plant. I never grew diascias before, but they are perennial for us and now I have several. This is the newest one in the garden.

Dianthus hispanicus, a super fragrant (when blooming) evergreen plant for full sun.

Phlomis russeliana, another full-sun plant, one of my favorites. I only just removed last year's seed heads, they looked so good for so long.

Azara microphylla and its shiny leaves kind of glitter against the matte blue of underplanted Festuca r. 'Patrick's Point'.

Rhododendron pachysanthum - a petite and lovely rhodie.

Corydalis lutea seeds around the shade garden readily. I welcome its ferny foliage.

Doronicum carpetanum is another plant for shade, surprisingly. It came in as a seedling on another plant from work and I let it seed around here. It's a welcome bright spot in a shady corner.

The first bloom on our Calycanthus 'Hartlage Wine'.

My colony of Blechnum penna-marina. Love this little fern.

Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Irene Patterson' has never bloomed for me before, I have had it for years and it came with me from the old garden. OK, maybe it did bloom but I did not notice.

Athyrium filix-femina 'Frizelliae' - how crazy is this? Also known as a tatting fern, it doesn't like to be overly wet.

Helwingia chinensis, an evergreen shrub from China, forms its flowers on the leaves. Crazy.

This is a polygonatum or Solomon's seal, given to me at a plant swap.

Eryisimum 'John Codrington'

Papaver orientale 'Pizzicato'

Geum 'Totally Tangerine'

Now for a few wider shots of garden beds.

Dianthus hispanicus really shines this time of year and oh my gosh, does it smell fantastic. You can smell it from many feet away, especially in the evening. Dianthus are great for dry gardens, they really require very little water and well-drained soil.

A bit of the labyrinth garden with a stoechas form of lavender and a few santolinas in the background.

Another wider shot of the labyrinth garden.

There's a brief but hopefully colorful look at what is happening this week at Chickadee Gardens. As the season continues and the weather warms, the veggie garden becomes the focus - and all that weeding! I know you can relate. It's a magic time of year, hopefully we all can take a moment or two to enjoy our passion - plants (and wildlife for me, too) - and let a few of those weeds go.

As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, we love hearing from you! With that, we wish you happy gardening, one and all!