Spring Flowers

Mid to Late Spring Blooms

The initial riot of colour from the tulips is slowly subsiding (helped along by the unseasonably warm weather I think), but there are still fresh buds appearing! The more fancy tulips are coming out to play now, along with the ever-reliable bleeding heart, and some creeping phlox.  

I love my shade perennials.  The bleeding hearts are a must-have for a cold-climate shade garden.  They are so hardy, beautiful, and classic.  I also love lily of the valley. It has an amazing fragrance, naturalizes well, and has the cutest little bell-shaped blooms. I was even able to find a pale pink variety at the greenhouse this year! 

My favourite ground cover has finally bloomed, and as always, it's stunning.  It's called creeping phlox, and it forms the most amazingly dense masses of flowers.  It slowly naturalizes year after year, but i've noticed if you don't use weed-barrier to control the growth it will integrate dandelions and grass, and it's nearly impossible to remove the weeds once they've blended with the plant.  I've had to dig up more than one clump of phlox because of this.  

My trees are in full bloom now too!  I am most excited for my heirloom cherry tree.  This tree is a direct ancestor of the tree my Grandma took from her family farm.  The original tree has since died, but Grandma allowed a few saplings to sprout around the tree over the years, and when we moved to Grande Prairie, she let me take a little cherry tree with me!  I also have an ornamental flowering crab tree that gets little purple apples on it. They're not  safe to eat, but the moose and deer seem to like them.  

The back lawn is having a rough go of things, between 2 female dogs, dandelions, and horrible topsoil, it doesn't stand a chance! Some serious grass 911 will be in order, once I get a larger stretch off of work.  Happy gardening!