April 2: After vacation

We were gone for nine days on vacation. Upon return, a number of things have changed!

Most notably, the new large rhodie is looking pretty sad. I don't know if it's going to make it.

The brunnera are very happy. The leaves are still small but they are putting out so many flowers!

Jack Frost brunnera

Brunnera and Vancouveria (Inside-out flower)  Also a bit of Japanese Forest Grass popping back up there. I think that was probably a mistake, and I'll likely move or remove it.

The alliums grew a bit, and two more popped up. They're hard to see, but are closer to the house. Looks like we'll have five!  Another vancouveria is getting going here as well.

 
 We're having a beautiful morning, and the daffodils are out! They are spread out more than intended - the moles and the squirrels rearranged all my bulbs, so the crocuses (that survived) are in random spots and the daffodils are moved and the hyacinths are lucky to be here at all.  Blueberry is budding in the background, and a hardy geranium is leaved out nicely.  There's another patch of it a few feet away that I didn't plant -- I guess it spread!

The sunshine blue blueberries are losing their winter pink leaves now that they are leafing out for 2012. More daffodils and hyacinths, and the violas -- the three small plants Daniel wanted to plant, the very first flowers (before the hellebore, which was the first deliberately chosen nursery purchase) we picked up one afternoon at Home Depot, got pretty shaggy last fall. I cut leggy shaggy parts off, and now they are just fluffy and beautiful. Huh!

Another very happy hellebore. I'm told I should trim off last year's old large leaves that are lying there on the ground. Maybe I'll get to that, but I'm happy it's happy. Behind it is a smaller white hellebore that is not happy at ALL. Wonder what the difference is? Why is the purple one going crazy when the white one right next to it is miserable?

My other, older red flowering currant from last fall is starting to leaf out at the bottom. No red yet!

Side yard near patio. Little rhodie (I broke a big part off with one of Daniel's balls!), pacific wax myrtle, tiny hebes, pansies, daffodils, muscari,  evergreen huckleberries....

I couldn't figure out what this was at first!  There are three of them back under the large rhodie (the long green leaf is part of a snowdrop).  Pretty sure it's one of the Astilbe I planted last year. I ordered my bulbs and some bareroot daylilies and astilbe from BloomingBulb.com last year. This one should be "Europa". I ordered 5 at $4.80 apiece. Looks like at least three are coming in. Have never planted bareroot before, so this is a good sign.

The oregon grape are happy, and the yellow flowers are pretty. They are oddly spaced along the fence now, and look crowded near the new rhodie but too far apart back here. Not sure if I'll move them or wait. I think I'll wait and see how much they grow this year, since they went in pretty late last year.  Also, some salal on the ground. I moved it twice last year, and it really hasn't been happy since. Doesn't die (it is salal, after all!) but doesn't thrive back here in the shade, either. Will be interesting to see if it recovers and takes off this year, or continues to sulk.

 Two red flowering currants (King Edward) and red huckleberry.  The currants have leafed out considerably since I saw them last, and the one on the left has the pretty red flowers!  The hummingbirds that come through in the spring are supposed to like them... I hope to see some!







Closeup of the red flowering currant on the left.

The burgundy wine nandina loves this corner.  Looks like the random daffodils over here are going to come up just fine.  (No, I swear, I didn't plant them there, but there they are now!! Looking forward to seeing them open!)

Serviceberry is getting ready to open leaf buds.

Hooray, the oceanspray is alive! It was all sticks before... leap of faith to plant it!

The red sunset maple is blooming. Yay! Can't wait to have a leafy tree over there!

Pretty red against the green. The big tree behind is the cottonwood in the neighbor's backyard. It should be dropping its messy seedpods on us soon, but with the old cherry gone, I'm glad it's there.

The giant pieris on the north side of my house. It has some pretty flowers... but only in the very small portion of the plant that actually gets sun! These have grown a lot in the time that we've lived here. Trying to decide whether to keep them and move them when we do the beds and path back here (completing the backyard layout!) or no....