Spring... FInally!

Finally it seems the garden is blooming, or at least attempting to.

My beloved Lady's Mantle. I adore those chartreuse flowers!

I don't usually go all pansy mad, but for some reason this year I decided to plant an abundance as I found so many interesting colour combos. This one is in a pot you have to pass on the way up the few steps to our back door.

Oops more pansy madness... I'm really loving the orange ones, so vibrant!

I picked this up at a local sale to benefit a garden/ animal sanctuary. They said it was a variety of fuchsia, but its a vibrant red and definitely perks up a sad little patch.

I'm truly loving this "Blackie" potato vine. Best part is that its a nightshade so blooms at night. A beautiful lavender trumpet shaped flower. Total love. I wish the colour showed better, its really a lovely deep, dark purple as close to black as you can get with plants.

This is one of the "shrub" roses we have at the front of the house. It really went mad this year and filled out quite beautifully. This is a fab rose to grow as its ever-blooming, even in our hideous tropic summer heat.

Front of the house with my climbing roses. I got an incredible amount of buds this year, but sadly the late summer is making blossom time a bit late. In the foreground you can see my peonies, most of which were transplanted as I got zero blooms last year. Thankfully that is not the case this year! (But what happened to my red peonies? boo!) I've actually had to stake them up as the recent rainstorms had them all bent over and sad looking.

I'm particularly proud of these pink roses. It was suggested to me about 5 years ago to try to "shock" them by replanting them elsewhere. Last year I think we got two blooms for the first time since replanting. This year the bush is covered with gorgeous pink blossoms!

One of my beloved peonies in a flower arrangement. I never tire of peonies, the smell, the flower shapes, I love everything about them.

Here's the whole flower arrangement I put together yesterday. I got a little over-enthusiastic mixing colours and flowers, but hey, in nature it all goes together right? The red climbers are also ones transplanted at the same time as the pink ones and have been doing better and better each year.

Unfortunately I did contract my very first case of poison ivy whilst trying to weed back where the pink roses and red climbers were transplanted. Apparently I have allergies to all the OTC remedies, and will have to hit the dermatologist today. My legs look scary o: not to mention I am DYING of the itch! Relief is in sight... well at least I hope so!

Cheers!