Beautiful Blooms

I really wanted to participate in the display chain that Amy of Bumble Bee Lane had this past week, but it seemed like I never had enough time to get outside with my camera to take some pictures. Well I finally did yesterday and then go so busy last night that I didn't get to do a blog post.



The rose in the above picture is from a bush that we had given my mother in law some 20+ years ago. The rose is so beautiful and it smells awesome. Tiffany is the roses name and is one of my favorites...now if I could just afford to shop in it's namesakes store.


I had double impatiens like these last year in my back window boxes and they did fabulous, so since it "ain't broke" I'm not fixing it, so I found some more to plant for this year. Just need to get around to it! Never enough time in the day.


Last year I planted 2 bleeding hearts in my new perennial bed and lost both of them over the winter. I don't know if it was due to December being bitterly cold and the plants not going into their dormant state gradually, if there was too much salt from the road that was shovel with the snow we had, or if the raised bed was too warm last summer. Anyway, this bleeding heart was one my mother in law planted. It has finally really blossomed into a very nice plant. I'm torn on whether to leave it where it is or to transplant it into the front perennial bed.


This is one of 2 azaleas that we have left. Our neighborhood is beautiful around Mother's Day with all the azaleas in bloom. We had a row in the front yard but removed them last year when we put in the large perennial bed. We were going to replace them with the new ever blooming ones, but planted monarda (bee balm) along the fence instead. I think that was a wiser choice and more in keeping with the perennial flower garden theme.


This little rose bush has had such a plethora of blooms this year. It is much shorter in stature than the rest of the roses in the bed but what it lacks in size it is making up in blooms. And boy do they smell delicious! It's a called Angelface and is just too sweet.

I had already shared my hanging petunias in a previous post, but wanted to share them here again. They are doing fantastic and the smell that comes wafting off them is out of this world! Oh my!



I had a guara planted last year in my perennial bed and it was huge and just simply gorgeous. Here again is another plant that didn't make it through the winter. I know it can be a tempermental plant to grow at times, but can't figure out what went wrong. Anyway, it is simply a stunning plant, blooming from early spring straight through to fall, so I had to replace it with another one. Hopefully this year we will make it through the winter.



There's nothing like the color and beauty that annual impatiens provide. I usually have planters full of them on my front porch. It is so nice to look at all their lovely beauty each day.


This is one of 2 yellow knock out roses that we planted last year. When we moved here, the front foundation plantings were definitely getting old and tired looking, so I had Josh remove them. It took me another year to decide what we would put in. After looking around we decided on 2 yellow and 3 pink knock out roses. We searched and sniffed lots of them before we settled on the 2 varities that we purchased. Not only do they look good, but they smell great!

This red rose is a monster. It's Mr. Lincoln and my second plant that I have had of this variety. My hubby bought one for me many, many years ago as a Mother's Day gift. We had been living in our former house and the neighbors goats got out and into our yard. They proceed to strip the plant and my Mr. Lincoln died. It is simply a gorgeous rose and the fragrance is to die for!






Another favorite annual of mine...new guinea impatiens. They are waiting their turn in the front bed. I still have pansies in there that over wintered and are just out doing themselves, that I hate to pull them out. I've decided that I will change out the pansies next week as in another few weeks, the heat will be too much for them and they won't look as pretty. The hubby and I decided on red and white for our front of the house annuals this year.


This is such a fragrant rose and the buds are just beautiful. I love taking pictures of the blooms in the macro setting on my camera. Here I captured the bloom just after a gentle rain. If you haven't figured out by now, not only do my roses have to look beautiful they have to smell heavenly. Hey, I can multi-task, why can't my flowers?


This is my neighbors iris. Once it's done blooming, a small piece of it will be in one of my beds so that I will be able to enjoy it. My across the alley neighbor, Mary and I share plants with each other, expanding our selections. Such a nice neighborly thing to do.










My hubby loved the color combination on the pansies in this pot. I just love them and they are just thriving. Hate to have to disturb them, but will pot impatiens in this pot real soon as it will again be too hot for the pansies on my front porch.





Another perennial favorite of mine are these dianthus or pinks as they are called. I picked these up at the flea market a few years ago and they don't disappoint me in the spring.



Peonies are said to be an old fashioned plant. Whether it's considered "old Fashioned" or not, it is a beauty. We have 3 different varities, pink, burgundy and white and all are simply stunning in beauty and fragrance. Even the ants love the blossoms and ridding the flowers of them is easily overcome by cutting them and letting me sit for a bit, the ants leave and they are safe to bring in the house.








Carrying on the red and white theme, I couldn't resist these petunias when I spied them at the garden center. I planted them in the back side yard where we get the most sun. They have a slight fragrance to them.







This Wine and Roses weigelia is one of 3 that we planted in our front foundation bed along with the knock out roses. It's simply gorgeous with it's fuschia flowers and in the summer it foliage turns a darker reddish color.







And last but not least is my white iris. This iris was planted 3 years ago and had finally decided to bloom this year. It is simply beautiful and it also smell terrific.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the blooms from my gardens. Sure wish I had smell-a-vision so I could share not only the sights but the smells with you. I think springtime is my favorite season with it's bounty of beauty.

Until next time...