It has sprung!

Time is such a moving thing. I chased early summer on to Hilton Head Island and returned to find that spring had almost left us and summer was well on its way to my house. Just compare the photo of the trees above with the one in the prior post which I took the day before we left!

One of my newly planted roses is now sending out lovely pink blooms.

I have never had rhododendrons at my prior homes and this year I added two new plants.


This rhodo above is from last year and it blooming so well this year without little deer croppings. It starts as a pale peach color and fades into deep pink.

The weeding also sprung forward. Guess the bird photos from vacation will have to wait.

Should I go to War?

This is my Lungwort (Pulmonaria x 'Berries N' Cream') or Bethlehem sage that I planted last year. I could not find it in the local nursery and they special ordered it for me. The variegated leaves with a hairy-furry surface are almost as interesting as the flowers which start out pink and change to purple. The blossoms remind me of the blue bells that grew wild in the foothills behind my house growing up in Colorado. This perennial spreads out about 2-3 feet. My specimen sits in a landscape bed that is right up beside the house and the plant is touted as deer resistant.

...Unlike my purple rhododendron which sits only four feet away in the same landscape bed and which had only one bloom that escaped the cropping of the deer. I am hoping that the deer and I can come to a better compromise once I live here full time. Of course, if they are fundamentalistic and uncompromising in their diet, we will work this out on less friendly terms!

Finally, it is now time for the wild sassafras (below) to be in bloom. If you tear or crush the leaves, they smell like root beer. Tea can be made with the leaves by pouring boiling water over a handful, letting them sit, covered, for 10-15 minutes and then straining out the leaves. I remember doing this when I was a scout leader... but I cannot remember if it worked.