Garden progress

It's been a while since I put up anything new. I got out the camera in time to record leaves opening on my oakleaf hydrangea in a furry cinnamon-brown coat that quickly developed into new green foliage.

 Early in April the pear tree bloomed prolifically, as beautiful as it's ever been.

Then along came two weeks of lovely summery weather that kept us busy working outside, I took a few photos in between weeding and planting, but I haven't been pleased with the results. Still, plants have been growing and it's been exciting to watch.
It was the purchase of a tiny new Nikon SO1 camera, mainly for travel, that spurred me to take the following photos. With fewer pixels and only a 3x zoom, it's not nearly as good as my Canon G12, but it still does a reasonable job. Here's the backyard with the oakleaf hydrangea now fully leafed out at the bottom left.

There is still a lot of bare earth showing, but everything will expand during the next month.
In the bottom right corner my shade garden is filling out.

Left to right are Heuchera 'Green Spice', black-stemmed Hydrangea nigra, Hosta 'Krossa Regal'.






 Meanwhile, in the front garden a beautiful little alpine willow, Salix helvetica, shows off its reddish catkins in the evening light.

Also in front, 'Queen of the Night' tulips have been looking good for a couple of weeks, drawing a lot of interest from passers-by. I'd taken photos earlier, but in too much sunlight and they have looked weirdly over-exposed. Today was lightly overcast and I got a better image in some respects, although without the sunlight they are not as iridescent as usual.

Finally, the first peony has just opened one gorgeous red bloom.

It came to me unnamed but I think it's an oldie called 'Red Charm'. I moved it a few months ago and it hasn't settled in as I'd like. It will get another move after it finishes flowering to what I hope will be finally the right location to show it off as it deserves.