In the meantime, here's a bunch of photos I took a couple of days ago and found more pleasing.
Sweet Southern spring. (Enjoy it while it lasts, because you'll miss it when it's done!)
'Fireflame' may not be full and double (yet), but I can't complain about its flowering. It's performing beautifully in its first spring in our garden!
Pale violet clematis (unknown variety)-- also very pretty. The pale flowers can tend to get lost against the white background of the trellis, but the rose leaves help provide some contrast.
Speaking of that rose, it's our 'Joseph's Coat':
Rose arbor and garden path.
Looking east, we see clematis 'Fireflame' and the 'Peggy Martin' rose.
Looking back to the west...
The white clematis must be at or near peak bloom.
Two KnockOut roses (double red and single yellow-- 'Sunny') in front of our viburnum:
On the other side of the path, double red KO rose in the foreground. In the back, the rose with the most bloom is a double pink KO rose. The rose with a smattering of flowers is 'Nearly Wild'.
Double Red KO Rose really deserves a prettier name. I know it has its detractors-- too common, no scent, no "personality" (*covert eyeroll*)-- but let's not be snobby. I'm no rose expert, so I don't have to be ashamed to say that I think these flowering shrubs are gorgeous and (so far) relatively carefree. Why can't we love both easy, modern roses and old-fashioned, perfumed beauties? Both have their merits.
(*Mumbles*: Personality? Maybe I lack the proper sensitivity, but how much personality can a rose really have, anyway? Perhaps these KO roses have a personality that some people are just too snooty to acknowledge, because they don't sulk and require a constant shower of attention and praise... and are maybe a little too popular, at the moment. ...But no. If I start thinking of them as Miss Popularity, my grumpy side will come out, and I'll start snubbing them, too...)
(*soothing voice*: It's alright, sweetheart. I still love you. You just keep on being your exuberantly-blooming, cheerful, Unsinkable-Molly-Brown self. No room for rose snobs in this garden!)
Oh, and the no-fragrance thing isn't true for 'Sunny' KO rose, by the way. It definitely has some fragrance. I like the way the flowers age from medium-bright yellow buds to buttery flowers, all the way to faintest cream edged with a blush of pink.
Bubble-gum pink double KO rose:
Okay, enough roses!
Some of the new canna lilies are putting up their first leaves! Excitement abounds!
We recently put up a bell by the main gate, on the rose arbor. I've had the bell for quite some time-- before we'd even built the arbor. Within just days of hanging it, signs of rust appeared, so I need to give it a coat of paint soon. I think I'll keep it black.
For the last photo of the day, an early-morning look down the path to the sitting area...
The daylilies are filling in pretty nicely, here. I'm happy with their progress!
