Garden Rainbow

Day 215: The images in this collage were all taken on Wednesday afternoon in my garden, but please don't get the idea that my yard is a showpiece. The truth is that it is anything but. The "lawn" is a mass of moss, cat's-ear, dandelions and tough-stemmed grasses, and the shrubs are let go wild, branching however they wish except when they occlude some other plant from sunlight. Better Homes & Gardens would never take photos here, but what my yard lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in habitat. The birds love it, and so do I.

That said, I'd like to introduce you to some of my floral friends. Not all of them are represented here because some come later, summer folk such as delphiniums and hardy fuchsias. They'll have their day when the spring flush fades.

Top row: blueberry flowers (I should get a ton of berries this year if the pollinators do their job), Asian Bleeding-heart, Lithodora, Kerria japonica, alpine strawberries
Second row: pink heather, English bluebells (can't get rid of them!), peony, hellebore, Centaurea
Third row: assorted columbines
Fourth row: Sitka Mountain Ash (the birds love the berries), red dogwood, Lily-of-the-Valley, lilac, azalea
Bottom row (for groundcover, of course): Heucheras in three shades