What's blooming

My irises are full of fat, healthy buds! I can't wait to see them take over my gardens for a few weeks. And the peony is full of buds this year. Mark and I planted tons of new things this past weekend...a viburnum called Summer Snowflake -- I love that name -- with lacecap flower heads that are pure white and bloom all summer. A great replacement for that old stingy bloomer of a lilac I finally took out last fall. We moved a lupine and a palace purple heuchera to better locations. We also moved a climbing hydrangea -- and Mark planted it all by himself. He is quite a gardener and I am hoping he will help me in my new garden design business. At least one of my kids likes to plant and grow things! We also planted a sage plant, a lavender plant, rosemary and Mark planted more strawberries. He is very excited to grow his own strawberries. I hope they actually have a few berries for him. We also decided to put in a raised bed for veggies -- we are so excited! I want to grow zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans and tons of basil. I can't wait to have my first tomato, mozzarella and basil salad. I love summer and grilling and salads. And we have lots of fires in the fire pit and roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Summer in Connecticut is short but so sweet. The days are warm...mostly...and the nights are usually cool. I love sitting in a sweatshirt by our fire pit in the summer. We make the most of our short summers, and our garden does, too. Since I'm such a summer girl, so many of my plants are summer bloomers. I have lots of different hydrangeas and the show is amazing in june and july.