With the bulk of the “big” work done in the garden, I can now mostly sit back and enjoy the blooms.

Of course there will be daily watering (unless it rains), and some moderate weeding and dead-heading to do. But that’s just easy basic maintenance.

And the end of May brings the bulk of the late spring blooms.

There’s still a few Tulips blooming, though to be honest, I didn’t seem to get too many this year. I think the squirrels may have raided the bulbs over winter. My daffodil yield was low too. Could have been that late cold snap too.

Right now the really big performers are the irises. Those purple/black ones at the side of the house have gone absolutely nuts! I think they’ve enjoyed all our wet weather.

The Chives and Aliums are just getting started. The bees really love these ones. The chive blooms are some-what short-lived, but the Purple Globe Aliums seem to last forever.

The Lily-of-the-Valley doesn’t last terribly long, but it is one of my favourites. It’s nice and established now, and I get more every year. I’ve promised some to neighbour Krista when mine stop blooming.

My lovely white Russian lilac has started to bloom too. Almost all the blooms are at the very top. And it’s gotten so tall! If we ever move from here, I’m going to miss this beauty.

My regular (as opposed to dwarf) Columbine have started to bloom. They don’t get as many flowers as the dwarf version, but they are just as pretty.

Looks like it won’t be too long before I have some strawberries to munch on. You may recall that I have a couple different pots with strawberries. But last year, I also cut off a few runners from the hanging pot, and popped them in the garden. They are doing exceptionally well. I’ll have to beat the bunnies to these though.

I’ll admit, I’ve never been a huge fan of begonias. But this year I seem to have caught begonia fever. I got the ones for the big black pot on my first garden centre trip, but then I realized that I’d forgotten to get anything for my hanging pots out front. They don’t get a lot of sun (just in late evening as its going down), so I’m limited on what I can put in them. I hate impatiens, and I’ve had fuschia two years running. I really wanted a change! Begonias it is! These white ones show up quite nice against the red brick of the house. They have some Million Bells and Trailing Petunia to keep them company.

I’ve also added a few new treasures to the garden this year. This Blue Mountain Pottery Hefalump used to belong to Mom. She’d had it for as long as I can remember (one of my regular chores as a child was to dust him). She gave him to me just before all the COVID drama dropped. I had him with the house plants, but I thought he might like to spent the summer in the garden. He’ll come inside before it gets too cold out for him.

I found this sweet little bird house at the dollar store. I doubt the birds will actually use it, but it looks nice hanging in my lilacs

And now it’s time to put May behind us and see what June brings! Hopefully lots and lots of roses!