I’m using some of the photos I’ve taken for this blog in an altered book this week, and I needed a few more of this spring’s additions—so, since it’s still to wet, cold and grey to garden today, I thought I’d shoot a few things:

From the new purple beds, dianthus (above) and purple autumn sage (below). I’m not sure I’m finished planting in this bed yet. In fact, I’m not sure what I’ve planted is in the right configuration. I think I have too many autumn sages planted too close together, so I might go in and spread things out a bit.

Oxalis in bloom. I put three of these in the shade bed last year, and halfway through the summer, they died to the ground. They started coming back again when the weather cooled off, looked a little poorly when it snowed, but are now big and happy.

I have three of these firestorm nandinas planted on one side of the front door. They’ve been all kinds of red since the weather warmed up. I cropped them pretty hard last fall, so they’re low, but fat. I think this year, I’ll cut them very little, because I’d like them to get taller.

Waiting on the front porch, to be planted in the lantana bed, is this pretty orange rose. It was all buds when I bought it, and looked a little sad, but the watering and rain seem to have done it a world of good. I wasn’t sure the blooms would be orange enough to compete with the other flowers in this bed, all of which are quite bright, but I’m pretty happy with the color now. It has just a bit of the evil black fungus, so as soon as it gets sunny again, I’ll be misting the roses with a little baking soda.

Umm, yeah. I have a ton of dandelions in the front yard. They seem to be the one thing I can grow consistently. Soon, I will have obliterated the remaining lawn, and they won’t have anywhere to grow. Well, except the backyard…

Over in the corner of the backyard, under my studio window, close to the fence I share with Good Neighbor, this appeared. I’ve never purchased a red rose, because my house is red brick. I did have a yellow rose bush here last year, but I dug it up and moved it to the front yard. After I transplanted, I noticed there was a little stub of a rose bush left behind, and thought I might end up with another long stem yellow rose. This is a totally different type of bush. The canes are long, like a climbing rose. It’s freaky. I have no clue how it ended up in my yard.

I did not grow this chocolate lab. This is Molly, Good Neighbor’s pup. The mystery rose bush is growing right next to the space in the fence where she comes to wait for me when I work in the garden, because the rest of the fenceline is covered with honeysuckle. She just lays in the shade of the honeysuckle and waits for me to come and see her before I go inside. She’s a sweet dog—and even though she’s still a puppy, she’s tall enough to stand with her front paws on top of the fence, and hang her head over it for a little ear scratching.