We did have some beautiful iris and the roses are coming on strong.
But here's the most delightful surprise of the season--it hitchhiked into our yard in a Mother's Day pot a few years ago and now they've seeded themselves out the front door. 
Tonka checks every time he goes out to see if one might be ready for the right dog...Any highlights in your spring yards and gardens?
HALLIE EPHRON: I feel as if my garden is about to devour my yard. The bushes (forsythia, Japanese quince, viburnum) are in desperate need to trimming -- nay hacking -- and all I'm doing is watching it rain.
Our excitement was a swarm of thousands of bees that came swooping into our yard, hovered like black blanket over the driveway, and then settled into the viburnum. A local beekeeper arrived a day later, sawed off the branch, scooped up the bees, and took them off to rejuvenate an ailing hive she had. At last report they were settling in well.RHYS BOWEN: I returned home from a month away to find the gardener had turned off the sprinkler system on his last visit so everything looked very sad and dry. It's perking up again but we're already into the California summer when most plants are done flowering and slipping into survival mode. Roses would be flourishing if the deer hadn't knocked down the back fence and can now walk in unhindered from the open space around us. Lately I'm craving a house that is not on a hill and could have a real garden with soil and plants and veggies.
ROSEMARY HARRIS: My garden's been heavenly. I was afraid that I'd miss a lot when I was in Italy but that didn't happen. Of course the bamboo sot up and threatened to take over in my absence, so instead of just kicking over the shoots we had to saw some of them, but it wasn't nearly as bad as having a garden where you have to mow the lawn all the time. Like clockwork - forsythia, dogwoods, azaleas, pieris, spirea, peonies, viburnum, rhodys, weigela. Right now the mountain laurels are taking a hammering from the rain so they may be gone by tomorrow. This year's surprise - the doublefile viburnum kicked butt. So glorious I'm searching for a couple more.
One thing...for next year...someone stop me before I start seeds again. They never work out for me. Something always happens and they wind up in the compost.
HANK PHILLIPI RYAN: Oh, because of the rain, ours is LUSH and gorgeous and green--so wonderful to see! I'm happy about it every day. Our tulips were fabulous--it's always such fun to pick them, and still have many outside. (I always seem to be at Malice at the height of the tulips, so funny.) The peonies went CRAZY..buds one day, then full bloom the next, sigh.
I love how they all go in sequence..the crocuses, then
the tulips, and the milions of forget me nots and lilies of the valley.
Big stands of those thin-thin-thin yellow iris. The roses are about to
be a bonanza, cannot wait to see. RO, our viburnum has some hideous
malady, I think...can you come over?
And avoiding impatiens this year because of the rampaging--what is it? Downy something disease.
And avoiding impatiens this year because of the rampaging--what is it? Downy something disease.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: It's hovering near 100 in north Texas this last week, our big spring flush is long gone and now we are going into survival mode. June 1st we started once-a-week watering restrictions. Most of our plants are native perennials so we'll have something blooming all summer, regardless. Our coneflowers are in full bloom now. The roses will repeat bloom all summer. Waiting for the black-eyed Susans to burst out any day, and one of the big glories of our summer, the bloom of the big crepe myrtle in front of our house. Many varieties start blooming as early as mid-May, but for some reason ours never flowers until the end of June. But from then it will be gorgeous until October.
WHAT'S BLOOMING (OR NOT) IN YOUR GARDEN?
