Don't Forget to Stop and Smell the Viburnums!

I was all set to do a post about gardening tasks, calendars, journals, etc., etc., and decided to play hookey from responsibilities!  If the weather is as beautiful where you are as it is in Atlanta at the moment, take time to enjoy the garden you've created!  (And if the weather isn't so nice, hang in there for another week or so!)
Here are some shots that are literally things between my driveway and my front door.  Not glamorous, but definitely welcome sights at the end of winter.

This is Kerria japonica, which is lanky and sometimes weedy looking, but one of the happiest plants I know.  It blooms heavily now, and then will continue to bloom on-and-off until the frost knocks it back a little.  When we have a warm week in the dead of winter, it's likely to pop out a few little blooms, as well.  This one is in the part of the Stepchild Garden I call "The Wild."

Leftover narcissus bulbs from the Big House were potted to go on the tables around the pool, but this pot cracked.....oh, well, Mr. and Mrs. are away for a few days, so these blooms get to sit on my little rock wall next to the garage. 

Mohawk Viburnum is one of the most fragrant plants I know, and the scent is just overwhelming when the sun hits it.  They are incredibly common (I bought eight of them for $50 a couple of years ago), and will reach 12 feet if you just let them be. 

Stop looking at your computer and go outside!

Spring in the Stepchild Garden

 The garden at home (AKA The Stepchild) is decidely less formal than that at the Big House or the terraces at the penthouse.  This is where I am free to break the rules and let things run slightly amok.  The native azalea "Frederick O. Douglas" is the most beautiful shell pink and white when it opens amongst the ferns.

Kerria japonica is one of those plants that everyone in greater Atlanta just seems to have, but nobody actually buys.  I just learned that this form is "Plenaflora."  There is also a single form that is beautiful.  The best part is that it thrives in woodsy shade, so it's a great burst of spring happiness when the forsythia stops blooming. 

"Jenny Brook" wallflower must just like being neglected.  At the Big House we dote on it, and it doesn't do all that well.  In my own garden I honestly forgot about it, and look what has happened!

Creeping Jenny and Obedient plant.  Two things that will eventually eat the South (if anything is left when the kudzu and wisteria are done.)

As always, click 'em to make 'em bigger if you want.