Enjoy Them While You Can

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

When the poet John Keats wrote this line, I'm pretty sure he was thinking of art.  I do know he wasn't talking about spring flowers, because the beauty of spring flowers certainly doesn't last forever.  We admire and write about spring ephemerals, those short-lived woodland beauties, but really, everything about spring seems ephemeral.  Spring brings me so much joy, but if I have one complaint, it's that it simply doesn't last long enough.

For example, this was the view from my front porch just two weeks ago--the scene in my header gives an even longer view of the flowering crabapples lining my driveway.

I look forward to this sight every year and enjoy every moment of it I can.  We were lucky to have a few nice days of sunshine to enjoy them, but the rain and strong winds can make short work of all these beautiful blossoms.

The redbuds, too, show off their glowing pink blooms for only a short time before they begin to leaf out and turn a pleasant, but ordinary green.

The tulips have also been short-lived this spring.  A week or more of unusually warm weather in April--in the 70's and even reaching 80 F some days--put the tulips into overdrive with all of them blooming about the same time and fading quickly in the heat.

In my last post I lamented that all I seemed to have were yellow tulips, but I needn't have worried.  After the early yellow blooms, other tulips opened up revealing that I had indeed planted a multitude of colors.  There was the delicate pink of 'Angelique,' one of the latest to bloom.

Shades of peachy-pink in the new 'Marit.'

Darker shades of pink in the new 'Mata Hari.'  This is an interesting tulip--

the petals get darker as they age.

There were orange tulips, too, including the 'Princess Irene' which bloomed just in time for my mother's birthday.

There were even pink tulips that opened to a near white bloom--'Lady Jane,' a species tulip.  And, of course, what would spring be, without a few dandelions--one bloom that sticks around for a long, long time.

Deep dark purple 'Queen of the Night' and the white of 'Marguerite' added even more colors.

And to add even more, there were several bi-colored tulips as well.

No, my garden wasn't just a monotone of yellow this spring after all.

There are still a few tulips blooming this first week in May, but most have disappeared, and the few remaining are fading fast.  This is the first year that I can remember when the tulip display didn't last until at least mid-May.

There were other fleeting blooms as well.  The Pulmonaria bloomed before I even had a chance to get a decent photo of it, but I did manage to capture the tiny blooms of the Epimedeum above before they, too, faded.

While I am sad to see some of my favorite blossoms leave so soon, there is an upside to spring, of course.  Later blooms appear to take the place of that early show of color.  Camassia is the perfect late spring bloom, tall enough to command attention amongst all the green foliage.

And then there are bluebells.  I was so excited to see these this week, nearly hidden among the Solomon's Seal and emerging hostas.  The reason I was so happy about these bluebells is that I've planted them before, and they've always been a no-show.  I'm pretty sure these were some I planted two or three years ago, and I'd forgotten their name.  These are Spanish bluebells, Hyacinthoides hispanica, not the native Virginia bluebells.

Spring is such a busy season in the garden, but its blooms remind us to slow down every now and then and just enjoy the moment.  A "thing of beauty" may not last forever, but we can delight in it for as long as it is here.  We can also take joy in knowing that there is more--much more--yet to come!

Mid-May Blooms for GBBD

An old friend texted me this week and asked if he could stop by: "I want to see all your flowers." I knew what he wanted to see--all the different tulips I had been posting daily on Facebook the last few weeks.  Unfortunately, I wasn't going to be home that day, and in my reply I explained that all the tulips were finished for the year.  "What? The tulips are gone?"  How do you explain to a non-gardener that spring blooms are fleeting, that you must enjoy each day because a garden is not static, especially in spring?

I'm always a little sad, too, to see the end of tulip season, but now I'm eager for their complete demise.  The late ones are still standing erect and green, but headless, and most are withering away, their papery, brown leaves cluttering up parts of the garden.  I'll be glad when I can clean up the last of the remains.  I did find one tulip in the shade garden that I thought looked rather pretty in its dying days.  This is a tulip new to my garden this year, 'Blue Spectacle,' which was advertised as a true blue tulip.  It was a pretty double tulip, but I was sure disappointed that it was lavender, not blue at all.

I did find a few late tulips still blooming in the roadside garden,  I don't remember the name of this one, but I do know it's supposed to be lavender.

While the tulips may be gone, other flowers are beginning to take their place on this May Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  Behind the lavender tulips, the Baptisia is blooming.  It's smaller, though, than in past years, and I'm not sure why.  In fact, the spring display in this small garden area was a disappointment--only the newest tulips bloomed, and one lone allium appeared.  I noticed when cleaning up this bed in March that it looked like the soil had been really disturbed--perhaps interlopers like deer or other wildlife dug up some of my bulbs and plants.  The good news is the lilies and coneflowers are growing like crazy, so this area should have a better display come summer.

The warm weather the previous two weeks kick-started many of the later spring bloomers.  While I was busy admiring the tulips, I neglected taking photos of these until almost too late.  The 'Purple Sensation' Allium in the arbor bed, for example, are already past their prime.

The perennial geranium in the Arbor Bed still has a few blooms, but not as many as a week ago.

The same is true of the lilacs.  My huge old-fashioned lilac is no longer blooming, but a few blooms remain on two newer and smaller varieties.  This is a new compact lilac I bought last fall, purely because of its name 'Scent and Sensibility.'

'Bloomerang' also is quickly fading.  It wasn't such a pretty sight this year as it is still recovering from the winter of 2013-14.

A new plant in my garden this year--Camassia.  I am kicking myself for not taking a photo when it was in full bloom.  Only the very tops still have petals, but these were such cool-looking plants when the whole stem was covered.  I think I might have to find a place for more of these bulbs this fall.

The irises are just beginning to bloom--the first to bloom was this purple passalong from my aunt.

'Immortality' was a close second.

Mid-May to early June is a time of transition in the garden as spring flowers fade, and summer flowers have yet to bloom.  I like to fill in the gaps with colorful annuals, and I've spent a lot of time plant shopping--one of my favorite activities of the spring!  I've only begun, though, to start planting all the containers.

One of my favorite annual combos--'Raspberry Blast' petunias, with Persian Shield and Helichrysum.

There are more perennials beginning to bloom, though.  One of the welcome signs of spring, Phlox pilosa, better known to most people as PPPP, thanks to the generosity of blogging friend Gail of Clay and Limestone.  Gail kindly sent me a few starts several years ago, and it is now spreading through the Butterfly Garden, much to my delight.

Another spring favorite of mine is Amsonia; this is Amsonia tabernaemontana,

 but my Amsonia hubrichtii is starting to bloom as well.

'May Night' Salvia, one of many salvias in my garden.

A new plant in the shade garden last year, Sweet Woodruff. 

 I'm surprised how much it has already grown since last summer; I hope I don't regret planting this.

Speaking of the shade garden, my intention was to divide more hostas again this year before they got too big.  Oops, looks like I'm late once again.  The poor 'Georgia Peach' Heuchera barely visible in the center of the photo has to be moved soon before it's completely overtaken by one of my favorite hostas.

'Sweet Tea' Heucherella, fortunately, is at the front of the border where it isn't as likely to be swallowed up.  I've noticed several of the Heucheras are sending up blooms already.

While there isn't as much in bloom right now as a few weeks ago, there are promises

 of much more to come very soon.  Above, the spireas are covered in buds.

And a bud I am very excited about--the first peony about to open up.  This is a new one given to me by a friend as a bare root last fall.  I was not expecting it to bloom this year, but I can't wait to meet 'Scarlett O'Hara'!

What is in bloom in your garden in this merry month of May?  Join us at May Dreams Gardens, where hostess Carol welcomes you to share on this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.