April showers bring May flowers

Clematis Nelly Moser showing off as usual. This is a striking flower in person.  This year it climbed six feet up the fence so we hope the entire vine lights up next season.

I picked up two Declaration Lilac this season. The fragrance caught our nose at the garden center and I just couldn't leave without them. I planted two. One died within a month. I think moles tunneled through it's root system and killed it. This one survived and is doing well.

I decided last year to try Dames Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) from seed. It's a biennial so I scattered the seeds last year and it bloomed this year. It did quite well, bloomed heavily and then started to look stringy and scraggly. They have a nice light scent and pollinators found them tasty.

This little oddity is called Shooting Star (Dodecatheon).  I planted several a few years ago and basically wrote them off as a failed experiment. They are very small plants and easily overlooked. I planted these next to a Hydrangea and I guess they were a bit protected. One day while pulling weeds I noticed a bloom head. A few days later, this is what we saw.

Classic white Bearded Iris. The fragrance is clean with notes of citrus.

Miss Kim Lilac (Korean Lilac) has finally started to produce larger blooms. I moved two of these to the back of the garden to get more sun. I expect them to bloom heavily next year.  The fragrance is nice but not as pungent as the classic variety.