Time for a picture post!

Been awhile since I posted pictures of the front yard, so:



Mulch, how I ♥ you.




The flowering things are all cosmos. Dwarf cosmos, apparently - note to self: the variety that grows 6' tall is Sensation, not Sonata. I've also put in some cleome, so hopefully that will achieve some height in the back this year. Since the hollyhock seeds failed to take *grumble* I gave in and bought some in pots at Loblaws. The poppy seeds, however, sprang up just when I'd about given up on them. Considering they've usually bloomed by now, I hope they manage it before frost (or, alternatively, that the seeds that came up are the perennials).




The little purple-leafed geranium I bought at the beginning of the year is blooming! And the cilantro is close. Man is it ever nice to be able to go out and pick a few stems off when a recipe calls for 2 tbsp of the stuff.




Bright Lights swiss chard is as colourful as advertised. For some reason it particularly likes this location; it came up elsewhere, but is about 4x as big here so far.


In the back, meanwhile:



Check out the INSANE civilization of the east bed!! Need to wrest the corkscrew hazel back from the ferns/creeping jenny of doom, yet...but still!




Two plants blooming for the first time: astrantia, aka masterwort (pink) and trollius, aka globeflower (yellow). The globeflower is surprisingly impressive, actually, for a random impulse purchase; it's been blooming for weeks now and still going strong.




Newly purchased veronica. It makes a really beautiful combination with the foxgloves, columbines, and evening primroses in the corner next to the tree, but I'm at a loss to explain why they go so well. The blue spikes go nicely with the pink and yellow, but maybe there's some sort of subtle height and texture interplay going on too, the kind of thing they're always on about in garden magazines. Damned if I can articulate it. Must try to get a good picture. I begin to appreciate how garden photography is an interesting challenge.




I actually went so far as to pick a bunch of larvae off of these a while ago, swearing a blue streak the entire time. Lily beetle larvae are really, REALLY fucking revolting. I think I will stick to picking off the adults from now on. If they manage to eat the flowers despite all my disgusting labour, I am giving up.




I had forgotten that these even bloomed.




Prairie joy rose - the first of several flowers. Awesome. It seems much happier in its new sunny home, unsurprisingly, but is still quite spindly from its shady exile. Not sure how to fix this. Do I pinch off the tips to make it bush out?




The Blaze rose is also in bloom...



...in fact, about to explode into bloom!! I think I may be reaping the rewards of planting it over the former site of the compost bin.




To my surprise, it looks like the Fairy rose is also going to bloom this year, with several buds at the end of every stem. I was worried about this one because a few stems had gotten quite yellow and straggly a couple weeks after transplant. Despite being a condescending wanker, the guy I spoke to at the nursery was apparently right on, because a dose of fertilizer (which I have never bothered with before) seems to have spruced it right up.