The Middle of May

Hi all!  I hope you had a good Mother's Day.  I did, and I'm so very thankful for my wonderful son and husband.  I'm continuing to document (loosely) our lives here at Forest Manor.  I have spent a large part of the spring working in our yard.  Yesterday, I worked on removing weeds from our large natural area in the front yard, where I'm in the process of creating a flower garden.  I cut a few stems yesterday evening to enjoy in the house -- they're a sampling of what we have added to this area over the past three years.      

   The purple, spiky flower in front is Veronica (Speedwell).  I had these flowers in my garden years ago in Greensboro, and I've always loved them; I think they make really nice cut flowers.  The bright pink flower, also in front, is Dianthus (Cottage Pinks).  I plan to buy another of these plants because the one I purchased last year was very small, and I've seen taller ones at our local Lowe's Home Improvement.  The two yellow flowers are Coreopsis, and the stem of bell-shaped flowers is Coralbells (Heuchera Sanguinea).  I also had these in Greensboro, and they are some of my very favorites.  My mother-in-law introduced me to them; she had a large border planting of them at their previous home.  These blooms are more of a pink color than they appear in this picture.  I have three plants now, and I look forward to seeing them grow and spread.  The fern frond in the back of the vase is from my Autum Fern plant.  It gives me pleasure to be able to make a small nosegay from my own flowers. 😊       Also included in the garden are Creeping Phlox, which have already bloomed out for this year, Shasta Daisies, which have not bloomed yet, and Lollipop Verbena, which is blooming at the moment.  In addition, I have Lenten Roses (Hellebores) and Limelight Hydrangeas.  This spring, I've added a Columbine plant, two Alliums, and three Lavender plants.     

   
 If you're a regular reader here, you may remember that we had several large, unhealthy poplar trees removed from our side yard in 2021.             

   In the three years since then, we've been working (with the help of Alex, who helps us about twice a year with the bigger projects) to build a new and prettier yard than we've ever had here.  This year, we are able to see a lot of progress, and it gives us motivation to keep working harder.  In fall of 2021, Alex planted a dozen Crape Myrtles for us where the big trees had been, and they're growing nicely.  The following year, he planted ten Arborvitaes along the rear border of the back yard.  Unfortunately, the deer munched on them, but they're mostly making a comeback.    

   A couple of weeks ago when Hal and I were weeding in front of the house, he picked some of the Gertrude Jekyll roses for me.  I thoroughly enjoyed their beauty and fragrance in the house for several days.  I can't imagine a world without flowers, can you?     

As you can see, outside has been the focus of our time so far this month.  I had hoped to spread more pine needles today, but it's raining steadily here, so I realized it was a good time to write a blog post.  I hope you are all doing well and hope you have a great week!  Thank you so much for visiting!