around my yard in late may

 We're on day two of rain and cold. I actually had to turn on the heat in the house this morning. I just went outside quickly to snap this picture of the pansies on my front porch. They're obviously loving the rain and cold, but I think they're the only ones.

I much prefer warmer, sunny mornings on the patio.

My yard and gardens are really starting to fill in nicely, though I still have more work to do. This ladder needs a paint job. And more pots of flowers. The bench in the background needs the same. There's a nursery a few miles from here that we've never been to and we're going to explore it later this week when Brian has a day off work. IF it's not raining.

 Clematis is filled out with hundreds of buds. I can only imagine how beautiful this is going to be when they all open!

The only vegetable we're growing this year besides tomatoes are sugar snap peas. Last year we tried pole beans and didn't get many. These peas were only a few inches tall a couple of weeks ago. It's amazing how quickly they grow.

I'm excited at having a peony bush. My mom bought this bush for me last year and it was just a couple of tiny twigs that never did anything. It came back tall and strong this spring and is producing blooms, so I think we're in luck.

Our one huge lilac bush in the back yard is in full bloom, but already fading. Lilacs are gorgeous, but only last a few weeks. I love when we're sitting on the patio and we get whiffs of lilacs when the wind blows. There are so many varieties of lilacs; I love seeing all the different colors as I walk or drive around the neighborhood. Our bush has very pale blooms.

Our neighbor's bush has vivid purple blooms.

My aunt's back yard is filled with a variety of lilac bushes. I particularly love this one. Amazing how each little petal is outlined in white!

 Columbine in the butterfly garden is starting to grow shoots, which will develop beautiful pink flowers in the next week or so.

I bought this Celadine Poppy plant last year at a native plant sale and now I'm wishing I had bought a few more. It's really thriving in the mostly shady, moist area by the patio.

I planted a couple of large pots of flowers for the porch and patio, but they never truly look nice until they're filled out. 

Another thing I did this past weekend while it was dry was to take all the cuttings I had from my ginormous jade plant that I pruned in March and plant them in a mixture of cactus soil and compost. Now I have eleven more jade plants! I'm not keeping all of them. Most of them are already spoken for.

We finally have a break in the rain where it's lightly drizzling instead of pouring, so I'm donning my rain jacket and heading out to run some errands.

Have a great week!