Sleep. Creep. Leap.

                                                         Spring is a bloom in my garden!

There's a whole lot of leaping going on!

When I started my first garden in the spring of 2012, my sister-in-law, Bobbie, told me there's a saying about perennials that is helpful to remember. The first year they sleep. The second year they creep. The third year they leap. She was right on!

This spring is the third year and my perennials are leaping! Plants are blooming that have shown very poorly the last two springs, and color is abound. What a joy to see it.!

I love the shade of blue these clematis are!

 

To think I didn't have to do any work this spring to achieve this result. It was amazing when the green shoots first started coming up in March. But then to see this display of color so quickly, and in May!

 

                                                                          Red Poppies

Jerry likes these red poppies the best. I like the reddish orange poppies below. They're in the wildflower garden.

                                                                              Poppies

 

The orange poppies were here before Jerry and I moved in 28 years ago. And I've been delighted with them each spring.

 

                                       Mom's orange azalea presented a good show recently.

Last Friday I was in peony heaven. The delightful spot was in Seneca Creek State Park in Gaithersburg where a small formal garden displays vestiges of a historic collection. It's a 50-by-75 foot plot of many varieties of peonies.

My love affair with peonies was discovered when my friend, Karla Dornacher, posted a picture of a lovely vase full of peonies from her garden. (See my posts My Little Peonies, May 18, 2010 and Peonies and Baby Leaves, April 8, 2010.)

When I moved into this house on the ridge, there was a peony garden down by the road at the entrance to our home. As I was not a gardener at that time, I had Jerry pulled them out. I think my sister-in-law took some also. All I could see were flowers with ants on them. I didn't have time in my life for flowers, growing them that is.

Now I love them! I have two peony gardens, one on the front side of the house, and one on the left side of the house in the back yard. This year their leaping! I'm thrilled.

Following are some more snaps from Seneca Creek.

So spring is alive on the ridge! Early mornings find me outside with the pups, sitting, enjoying the quiet. I'm thankful my enjoyment of gardening finally blossomed in my life, albeit at 63. And I'm thankful for perennials that keep blooming, year after year, like my orange poppies. Yes, they're leaping!

                                         A well deserved rest after some hard playing!