Happiest Girls in the Garden

Painted Daisies always make me smile.

May Night Salvia

Check out Mr. Bumble Bee cruising in for a landing. I didn't notice him until I downloaded these photos. :)

Mom's Peonies transplanted to my garden a few years back.

Purple Dames Rocket, Yellow Columbines and Mom's Purple Bearded Iris

I stole her yellow Bearded Iris, too. :))

* The happiest girl in the garden could very well be me.

June Columbines

Weeds? Never! More like a dream come true!

Columbines are so plentiful around the gardens that they are seeding themselves, growing AND FLOWERING in the cracks of the sidewalk.

I never planted red. But then, this Jacob's Ladder used to be blue, too. Weird soil causing trouble I suppose...

This one's for you, Wunx. She loves white flowers. (No accounting for taste.)

Wunx might go nuts over this one:
Ms. Jasmine grew indoors all winter. While I loved the fragrance, I did not love the way she boldly sent runners 10-15 feet up the wall. When she started wrapping herself around the television set, I decided to toss her outdoors for her last hurrah. Instead, she continues to climb and bloom... and stir up trouble.

So, for a little while, anyways, my ratty old deck holds the enticing fragrance of the Deep South and a favorite haunt, New Orleans...

40 Days and 40 Nights

Oh, thank God! I thought to myself ~ as I peered out the kitchen window at bright sunshine. A glimmer of hope in this grey, dreary, overly saturated spring.

More first blossoms: Johnson's Blue Geranium peeks out from behind lush foliage.

My joy was short-lived. The coffee hadn't finished brewing when dark clouds blocked out the happy sun and another deluge was upon us.

It's a toss up, I suppose. The scent of fresh Lilacs is intoxicating but the cheery pink blossoms of Flowering Almond are pretty irresistible, too.

I guess it really didn't matter if it rained this weekend ~ which it did, as it has done for as long as I can remember.* And, will do for as long as Google can predict.

Because I was stuck behind closed doors in what could easily go down in history as the most depressing sales meeting I have ever attended.

And, I'm not even in sales.

So, just imagine how the sales reps felt.

Alliums standing tall
(Haze, if you're reading this, these are the ones I thought were tulips when you were visiting! Dang. I can't get anything right.

As a freelancer, I work with all sorts of companies. Some are sweet. Some are mean. This company is by far the hardest ~ for the most childish of reasons. They don't like me. They really don't! I don't know why they don't like me. I'm kind of nice...

Mom's Wild Roses are going hog wild.

As I sat there for hours and hours and hours, I tried to earn my keep by offering up [what I thought was] one good idea after another. They kept looking at me like I was the village idiot. At one point I actually went into the ladies room and sort of sniffed my shirt to see if, perhaps, I smelled really bad or something.

Non-stop Tulip action: Heirlooms that (apparently) bloom forever.

So, I'd toss out an idea and feel like a fool. Minutes later some fellow in the room would take my idea and repeat it to the crowd. Then everyone would smile and say... Oh, that's good... Huh? I dunno, seems hard to believe that in this day and age I could be considered 'a dumb girl.' But, maybe so. The good news is I survived and I guess that counts for something. Hopefully something more than a bruised self-esteem.

* Admittedly I don't have a great long-term memory. Or even a pretty good short-term memory. But, I do believe this is the rainiest damn spring I've ever seen.

However! This deep drenching has inspired pretty much every flower in my garden to get with the program.