Sunday, May 25, 2008

Planting, relaxing, and roaming on a holiday weekend in the Valley....


This has got to be one of the most beautiful Memorial Day weekends I can remember ... glorious blue skies, warm sunshine, low humidity, light breezes ... it has been perfect. Temps have hovered around 70 degrees which is great working-in-the-yard weather.


And work, we did ... limbing trees, trimming bushes, planting herbs, hoeing the garden, weeding flower beds, spreading mulch, watering flower boxes and potted plants.... It has been a cool, wet spring so everything has grown exceptionally well.

The back yard is an oasis of shade once again and offers a nice spot to kick your feet up after working in the sun. It's also a great spot to relax with friends around the grill.

Iris and red-hot pokers are blooming.
Buttercups cover the ground beneath sassafras trees.

The swing is ready for SWAC Niece....

Ice blue-colored iris.

Dutch iris.

Roses are in full bloom.
That blue sky shows how gorgeous it was all weekend.
Locust trees are loaded with fragrant blooms.
Apples! After last year's late killer frost did away with blossoms, this year's mild spring has provided apple trees loaded with little green apples ...

... and peach trees loaded with little green peaches.

White and pink peonies are in full bloom all over the yard ... their fragrance is one of the pleasures of spring.

It's spring in the Valley....

Photos by SWAC Girl

2 comments:

Shaun Kenney said...

Looking good! The kids decided to go through the strawberrys (found none -- too cold this week to make new ones) and I started planting some boxwoods and some japanese holly for borders in the garden we have out back.

Unfortunately, my peas haven't grown at all because of the rain, my watermelons and cucumbers look a bit washed out, most of the plants I grew from the seed at Monticello is struggling except the red peppers, and my tobacco (yes -- Virginia orinoco tobacco, just like colonial times) died off after I transplanted them... so I'll have to do a second round!

The life and times of a gardener...

Good post!

Lynn R. Mitchell said...

Thanks, Shaun. Sounds as if you enjoy working in the dirt as I do ... there is something comforting about working in the soil and something satisfying about helping things grow.

Good luck with your garden and future planting of tobacco. My kin folk grow that in Grayson County ... and a great-great uncle took tobacco knowledge from NC to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, years ago.

Happy growing!