Springer

Summer is following so rapidly on spring that it feels like everything is blooming at once. Iris are everywhere, but the first peonies and roses are opening as well. Not yet at our place, but the old climbing rose is covered in buds. Meanwhile the lilacs and chives are peaking, the ornamental allium is just coming into bloom, and the clemates are ramping up. Out front, the lungwort is fading just as the spiderwort is preparing to take over and the celadine poppies in the sunniest spot are blooming even as the columbine in shade fades.

We did get one blossom from the all the irises I planted last year but someone broke it off almost immediately. I'm hoping for bigger, more vigourous plants next year that will stand up better to the abuse they've been receiving in their precarious position along the alley. All the rain has been great news for the woodland plants; I swear the epimediums look twice as large as last year. But the real standout is the persicaria, which seems to grow centimetres every day.

I still need to find spots for the wild geranium, whose seeds I hope to collect and stratify in situ, and the marginal wood fern. The latter cost a pretty penny at Gethsemane, but I'd been sorta obsessing about one (though not as much as I have about a Scutellaria ovata) for a couple weeks so it was worth it. The only plant which doesn't seem to be doing particularly well is the mayapple, which once again faded without blooming. I'm thinking I need to mark the spot so I can dig it up in fall and replant it somewhere it might be happier.