Happy May!

I love this time of year, when everything "comes up roses" with very little effort or thought on my (the gardener's) part. I wandered around the garden and immediate neighbourhood the other afternoon and took some photos, looking for the bits of beauty that were everywhere.

I have been waiting for these lily-of-the-valley bulbs to flower for several years and this year they finally came through. I love them.

When we built this house 26 years ago, one of the first trees we bought was a pink dogwood. It turned out to be a big disappointment, with insipid blooms that opened after the leaves sprouted, and it never inspired devotion. So, a few years ago, we replaced it with a Japanese maple tree, which turned out to be a much happier planting.

I was very glad when our neighbours planted this gorgeously dark pink dogwood tree right in front of their house so that I could enjoy it. I know they did it just for me! It is a beauteous sight every April.

And I snuck this shot of a forget-me-not in their flowerbed, just because I have always enjoyed their unassuming little flowers.

Pink hardy geranium, a trusty bloomer.

Our lilac met the same fate as our dogwood (bad shrubbery behaviour will not be tolerated in the Osborne garden) but this one is at the house on the corner and seems to be very contented.

I've been having a love affair with huechera lately. They are a reliable pop of colour almost all year long.

Don't know what this is, but it's in one of my flowerbeds so I must have planted it. 

My friend Lori gave me a bagful of bluebells last year and I am enjoying their blooms this year. There are white, blue, and lilac-coloured flowers.

This bed of hostas is one of my most well-behaved parts of the garden.

Well done, hostas! 

Grape flowers. I love the hint of red in the leaves.

I managed to keep the blueberry bushes alive another year. I think their their little blossoms are adorable.

The scarlet rhubarb stalks are just begging to be picked and turned into something yummy.

The berry vines are rampant this year. These are raspberries.

The marionberry buds are very different to the raspberries.

The kiwis are putting on lots of flowers. They still haven't produced any fruit, but I now know how to tell a male from a female flower, so this year I will be able to tell if we have two of the same sex, which would explain the dearth of fruit.

Hints of strawberries of summer.

This isn't a great photo, but I love this huechera flower, also known as coral bells, because hummingbirds visit them in the evening and I adore them.

These irises are outside the senior centre. I won't have them in my garden because of how much space the greenery takes up all year long, but I like to admire them in other gardens.

Nothing could be finer than Oregon in the springtime!