Well spring has sprung and I seem to have forgotten to take you on a little walk through some of my flower gardens here on the acreage. The shots that I’m posting today are those that were taken back in March and April of this year. After a few more posts with a culinary focus, I’ll add photos of my vegetable and herb gardens and also more of the flowers that are currently in bloom right now in May. It’s been quite the colorful display this year due to all of the winter rain and the two snowfalls. Hope you enjoy this little walk behind my garden gate!

Above is a brilliant rose-pink clematis, ‘Nelly Moser’!

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.Here is the latest edition of iris in the front gardens which was purchased from a local nursery; the purple variety is from W.D.’s parents’ farm in Ohio from many, many years ago. We’ve planted them and pulled them out every time that we’ve moved and then replanted them in their memory.

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More shots of the blue and white iris patch! I couldn’t get enough of these little pretties!

And the deer don’t touch them at all!

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The bleeding hearts along the northern exposure of our house and under the River Birch trees have simply gone crazy in naturalizing! They started out as little 4-inch potted plants and now they are each about 4 feet wide! And with about 15 plants, that’s a LOT of bleeding hearts. Again, these are completely distasteful to deer.
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.This wisteria only shows off for about two short weeks, and when it is in bloom, it steals the show in the gardens! Yes, I know that it takes over anything that it can climb, but I don’t have formal gardens and I like it this way..


Below is one of our latest spring flowering beauties: Vibernum “Chinese Snowball” . . . we planted about seven of these hardy flowering plants that are very deer resistant. Most of our garden is deer resistant due to the herds of deer out here in the countryside. These produce HUGE hydrangea-sized balls of flowers (and hydrangeas are not deer resistant). They take full sun and grow quite tall.
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What would spring be without brilliant Redbuds? We planted about eight of these trees in the past six years, but sadly, when the deer are desparate, they will chow down on Redbuds if they are short enough. We’ve lost half of them and it’s so sad when I lose any of my ‘floral babies’. But I keep on trying by planting more every year!
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In front of our house I always, always plant salmon-colored geraniums. The color is so vivid! They are so striking against the stone-covered walls. It’s been a tradition to pot these in front since 1978!  Deer will eat these as if they were candy, so I have to spray them with repellent after every rain . . . it works well.
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Here are some of our “Stargazer” lilies that we plant right after Easter in a safe place away from where the deer can nibble on. I’ve always loved this variety of lilies.
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And last, but really what appeared first in the gardens, are the cheerful daffodils of Mount Hood and Ice Follies that never fail to assure us that the cold weather of winter will soon be over! Gotta have nature’s little alarm clock that alerts us that spring is on its way!
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Through the winter, our pansies provide brilliant color through the grey, rainy days. Such sweet little things, huh?
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Thanks for taking a little stroll with me through this garden palette of natural color! I hope that you enjoyed this gift of beauty and that you, too, have lovely gardens to escape and restore your soul in. The azaleas and roses are in bloom right now and I’ll be posting photos of those later.
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And in the meantime, don’t forget in your days of insane over-busyness . . . STOP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS!
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