Gardening in Spring, 2014 (III)

The front yard

Distant Drums and California Poppies

Compliments from passers-by these days really flattered my vanity.
I have heard that parents who helplessly admire their own babies for no reason are considered foolish. I guess, along with this logic, I would be a foolishly infatuated gardener.

Poppies and Roses are blooming at their peak despite the howling wind of printemp in Japan.

Corn Poppies

 This is the first corn poppy in the yard. There is a long story about the ways in which I simply uprooted all of its sprouts imagining that they would be invasive weeds. Thanks to my poor vision though, some have survived my destructive hands, and now it is blooming like beautiful a red saucer.

The Blue Moon

Voluminous, gently coloured and fragrant are the Blue Moon. I sometimes wonder how I would count roses, since that the blossoms are as big as one's palm. Perhaps, a head of rose?

Gardening in Spring, 2014 (II)

Here is a collection of roses this year. In general, they are doing pretty well compared with last year. Royal sunset and distant drums have probably adapted themselves to their new home well enough to produce very healthy-looking flowers.

While the distant drum is shorter in build, the royal sunset winds its way to the top of a spire that is fixed on the ground. 

Royal Sunset

Distant Drums

Our blue moon is an old friend in the garden. It has never failed to amaze us over the past three years; however, after its first blossom last week, the following flowers, though abundant in quantity, look smaller in size.

I was unable to cut back one main stem of the blue moon last winter, and now, despite that it still manages to pride itself on carrying more than a handful of buds, it seems to be too tall to balance the bush.

The Blue Moon

Garden in Spring, 2014 (I)

Our garden has been blooming all the way since March after a frosty February. Exciting!

I have unknowingly developed this strange anxiety about posting photos of flowers on fb, worrying that I would be bombarding others with my personal hobby. In the end, photos of, for instance, babies are definitely more inviting and exciting. Therefore, for the time being, I would grow my private interest here instead.

I sometimes felt funny that when the public side of the self gets too much publicized, there is a tendency in me to privatize it.

In a Christmas party last year, a neighbour said that he always saw me in the garden. I understood that he meant no harm; however, it is difficult for me to take it as a compliment, given that most adult females in this neighbourhood are young mothers preoccupied with their toddlers. I have been feeling a certain degree of pressure on childless couple, who have had too much time to spend on plants. (I do believe, however, I would never abandon the lives in the garden even if there are other lives in the household.)

Comparatively, I believe, I made much less efforts in my garden than the years before. Apart from giving regular fertilizer and water last winter, I did minimum. However, when the first sign of life showed up in spring, this obsession with the vegetable matter was duly awakened.  

Here are some of this year's highlights.

Baby's breath spirea in March, 2014

Tulips in April, 2014

Tulips in April, 2014 

Flower buds of peony in April 2014

Peonies in late April, 2014

Poppies of different kinds from late April

A close-up of the front yard crowded with peonies, pansies and a purple ground cover in the back, since late April

Poppies may sound like a cheap choice in a garden, but they are one of my favourites every year. They are very colourful, resilient and simple. And most of all, they remind me of the four years I spent in another country.

What would come next is no less exciting, and, truely, I have never been so looking forward to rainy season in Japan. After two years' bareness, the hydrangea has finally produced some flower buds.