Finding a path to peace in the garden.

Garden path on the way to zen mindfulness.

This is a gorgeous unknown variety of Iris we planted last season. I'll have to scan the Iris database and see if I can find a match. It might be a Mariposa Skies.

Same here. Unsure of its name but its absolutely beautiful. It might be a Braggadocio. The fragrance from the Iris garden this year is very nice; citrus, grapefruit-ish.

A carpet of Purple Mazus Reptans. It's a low growing ground cover that you can walk on without damaging. It grows quickly in sun and will choke out your lawn. It escaped the flower bed last year. We liked it so much in the yard that we transplanted a large patch into the lawn. We hope to have a large 10 x 10 "lawn" of it next spring.

A stunning Rosa Mardi Gras. Probably our favorite rose. This is an early bloom and a nice surprise.

Azalea Glenn Dale Buccaneer under the dogwood tree. Always showy and only gets a little morning sun. Gotta love Azaleas.

Our Variegated Weigela took a direct hit from the voles this spring. It survived and is blooming but is not as thickly branched as it should be. Lightly fragrant, they can reach about 5 feet high and the same across.

The perfect yin to Weigela's yang is fragrant Abelia mosanensis. Rivaling lilac, its a must have for its May perfume. It prefers full sun but will still perform in light shade. Left alone it can reach a leggy 8 feet.

An almost forgotten patch of pink Columbine. A few years ago when we planted the row of Oakleaf Alice hydrangeas, I thought it might be interesting to have an under-story planting of Columbine. This is the result of just scattering the seeds.

No, this is not a hydrangea. Its a Viburnum opulus (sold as Snowball bush or Pom Pom Viburnum). Its grows very fast and requires staking the first few seasons as the flowers are quite large and heavy. The more sun the better which is typical of viburnum. Sorry to say its not fragrant. It can reach 10 feet or more if happy. 

High Noon tree peony really performed well this spring. It produced 5 flowers this season.