Memorial Day 2019

The unofficial start of summer for 2019 is off to a less than stellar and very wet start around here. It's been a rainy spring, which isn't a bad thing, but it's resulted in a slower than normal beginning to the summer plants. They're coming along, though.

The yellow Knockout rose is generally the first to bloom.  The red one is coming along nicely and should blossom in a few days.

Red profusion zinnia are new-ish and do nicely in the gardens without fading, although they're a bit more difficult to start from seed than the yellow and orange ones.

Primrose yellow Janie marigolds will be an eternal staple in the gardens.

The fringe tree started blossoming a few days ago.  The scent is very heady and sweet, and something that I'm sort of allergic to.  I tend to keep my distance and admire from afar.

It's slow, but growing in.

The typical lawn shot.  May's lawn feeding from a few weeks ago is about to kick in.

Two Weeks of Rain...

Two weeks of rain haven't particularly helped the gardens along, although they haven't hurt, either.   The plants are certainly watered in well, but the lack of sun means growth isn't very far along and many things are delayed.  There are few blossoms.

The pots are almost always the first things to bloom, simply because they're the best fed!

And the weather hasn't done much to the rhododendron, other than slowed it down by a few days this year.  It's not quite fully open yet, whereas it generally is by Mother's Day.

I took a closeup of a rhododendron flower.

The pots grow best, as always.  This is a yellow Profusion zinnia, getting ready to open its first blossom.

The rest of the garden is...well, it'll be along, I'm sure.

The grass, which I cut about an hour before I took this photo, is doing beautifully.  While the color suffers without sunlight, it generally enjoys wet weather.

Garden Planting

Garden planting began this morning in very hazy and wet conditions, just after a raft of thunderstorms came through last night.  It ended when I ran out of energy early this afternoon and the sun broke through.  Rain is forecast again for tonight and tomorrow, so I probably won't get back to planting until Monday, but I've already completed the entire front and some of the back.

Plants always look so tiny when they first go in.

Seriously, it's like they're not even there.  A few of those will eventually exceed 4 square feet without even trying.

Around this point in the process, I always wonder why I have so many plants left.  It's because the back is enormous and I'm only just starting it.  Even so, I've used an appreciable amount of marigolds and zinnia already.

While the garden annuals gear up, the tulips are still going.  The Purple Prince are in full bloom now and will last a few more days.  They might go tonight if we get the heavy storms projected.

The azalea won't even notice the storms, however.  I got one shot of a perfect blossom--ruined by a slight shadow of the lens in the frame.

The lawn looks perfect, but it usually does in May.  This year's incessant rainfall has certainly helped.