And in other gardening news

Decided there was a height gap in the back bed and it needed something weeping in shape. I was lucky to find a Chaparral Weeping Mulberry at a local nursery:

The Salvia Guaranitica 'Black and Blue' are looking good, and slowly taking over the bed by the shed:

And things in the new bed look happy, especially the Purple Prince Pennisetum grass and the elephant ears. Compare to April when everything was tiny!

This is an elephant ear I transplanted from the back bed - look at all the little shoots!

The bananas and cannas are also getting bigger:

And last but not least, my little sunset strip.

The Red Yucca has only sent up one stalk this year, which is unusual. The Honeysuckle seems to be taking hold on the trellis, and the Lafter roses have survived the transplant.

Daylilies Gone Wild!

The Daylilies have started blooming! In just a few days it went from this modest show:

To this:

These are Barbara Mitchell or Jolyene Nichole (I can't tell them apart):

The reddish are called Salieri, the darker pink ones are Emperor's Dragon.

Jungle cat!

Homage to the Star of the Republic rose

It went crazy with blooms this year!

'The Fairy' rose is trying to keep up.

Spring garden pictures

I haven't posted any pictures of the rest of the garden this Spring because my camera takes such disappointing pictures. (It has to be the camera, right?) Nevertheless I need to chronicle the growth, if only so I can look back fondly after Summer decimates everything beautiful and green.

The center bed (which is now really the left front bed??) as seen from underneath the Crape Myrtles. Canna Pretoria are coming up slowly but surely. (Note the ferocious jungle cat.)

Closeup of the center (left) bed.

The Lafter rose gets its act together.

Louisiana Iris 'Joie de Vivre'. It isn't as colorful as I'd hoped from the picture on PDN, but still pretty.

Lafter rose against Artemesia. Pretty contrast!

Madame Berkeley rose. 4-6 feet indeed. Look how tiny they started off!

Veilchenblau - it looks like the pictures and seems happy where we planted it.

Back bed view from the patio.

Close-up of Knockout Rose, Salvia May Night, and a Salvia Leucantha (Mexican Bush Sage).

Aloe Striata in bloom with California Poppy.

New bed - so close!

One of my favorite things about Jason is that he makes my obsessing seem totally normal. That means while I'm in bed feeling crappy he's still out working on the new bed, so we're almost done!

He surprised me yesterday with 2 Musa Basjoo Bananas, one Purple Prince Pennisetum grass, and one Spanish Dagger!

He also planted the rest of the plants we had:

• Colocasia Illustris
• John Fannick Phlox
• Yuccas
• Pindo Palms
• Orange Bulbine
• Salvia nemorosa 'Amethyst'

We just have one spot left; I'm getting a rose, 'Reine des Violettes':

p.s.

My 'Lafter' roses in the center bed have powdery mildew on a couple of leaves. They'd better shape up or they're out!

Yeah, I could spray, but life's busy enough as it is and I'm not going to reward them for being wimps: the other roses in the garden don't have it.