Of robins and roses...

I have misplaced my camera's USB cord.  As such, I do not have any pictures to share--BUT, take my word for it:  the past two weeks have been beautiful at my house!  The roses have been relatively early but have not skimped on beauty or fragrance.  The relatively moist (but not wet) and cool (i.e. seasonable!!!) weather as of late has been quite kind to the rose blooms.  Getting out of bed early, taking a stroll outside when most of the world is fast asleep, and subsequently being greeted by singing robins and the perfumes of rose, honeysuckle, and peony is a special experience.  Over the years, gardening has taught me of the intrinsic beauty of this spectacular planet.  While something such as a Caribbean isle or Italian vineyard are obviously stunning, the world is beautiful seemingly everywhere:  you just have to slow down and notice.  Ya know, the simple things.  Like robins and roses.  Far too many people seem too busy in their too 21st century lives to notice robins and roses.  A wise person once said to my mom that "I have an old soul."  Thankfully.

Over the past few weeks, my garden has witnessed and/or is currently seeing the blooms of columbine, weigela, spiderwort, rose, magnolia, iris, peony, azalea, and strawberry.  Last week (and this weekend and next weekend) we have been planting our usual crop of annuals:  impatiens, marigolds, vinca, geraniums, petunias, and begonias plus some interesting oddities for containers and window boxes such as wandflower, double impatiens, white euphorbia, licorice vine, sweet potato vine, trailing vinca, and a gamut of coleus plants.  Again, when I find this wire I will show you what I am talking about.

The real show however...well, it is just around the corner.  Typically, our yard "peaks" around the summer solstice (third week of June) which coincides with the blooms of some of my all-time favorite plants such as hydrangea, oriental lily, liatris, Leucanthemum daisy, loosestrife, daylily, and echinacea.  This year however, I am expecting peak to occur right around June 1st.  As long as we get good amounts of rain through the month of June, these beautiful plants will hopefully still be chugging along by the Fourth of July which has always been one of my top landscaping goals since it is my favorite holiday.  The 2012 hydrangea crop is going to be strong for most of my 30+ hydrangeas, but especially so for my new oakleaf  'Snow Queen', my 12 specimens of Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' and my Hydrangea macrophylla 'Peppermint' mophead and 'Nachtigall' lacecap:  all of which are showing signs of an above-average year for flowering.  Thank you mild winter!

So until I find my USB wire, I encourage you to do the following things:

1) buy hydrangeas, as always
2) buy more hydrangeas
3) buy Hydrangeas:  Cape Cod and the Islands which is my new #1 favorite book
           --buy the book and find my review here:  http://www.amazon.com/Hydrangeas-Cape-Islands-Joan-Harrison/dp/0764340557/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336952482&sr=8-1
3) find the robins and roses in your life and take the time to heed their calls (and perfumes!)

It's been 11 months and I am READY...are you?