What a difference a year makes

April 29th 2010 - after a cold and snowy winter we've had a warm and rainy couple of months, which means the azaleas are blooming a couple of weeks eariler than last year, the hostas are up and Polly the dog is spending all day outside.


April 27th 2009 - although we had a warm weekend this time last year, the Spring was so cold only the cherry tree was in bloom. This is the same path but shot from the opposite direction, looks so sparse, doesn't it?


We did lose a couple of plants this year (although everything I planted last fall seems to have made it with the exception of the lavender - it still smells good, though!) so I bought a couple of big yellow double-flowered Kerria and this beautiful crimson rhododendron - Skookum.


The Kerria is reputed to be nigh on impossible to kill. I tried my darndest to test this theory by driving them home in the car with the top down in a brisk breeze. Despite the trail of yellow petals I left throughout the village and the confetti carpet in the car they seem to be thriving...

Come hither...

Spending too much time communing with nature... I think it's beckoning me

Pink rhododendron

Pink rhododendron on front drive

Dying rhododendron

This is so sad. The lovely pinky-purple rhododendron on the north drive has been infected by the Phytophthora fungus. It's the third one (all in different parts of the yard) that we've lost this year. Our neighbours have also lost them. I'm not sure if it's just this particular variety that has been affected, but these were all old, well-established specimens.
This is what it looked like back in May this year



If you look really closely you can see the start of the problem - a little brown section on one stem at the top of the plant. But really there was nothing to warn us that five months later we would be facing the sorry, dying plant we have now.
I'm off to dig it out and destroy the remains. Too sad.

Cleaning and waiting

White Rhododendron
Originally uploaded by modernemama

We now have a moss-free brick path and patio at the rear of the house.The magic algae removing formula was: a bucket of extremely hot water, Palmolive dishwashing soap and baking soda mixed with a healthy dose of Clorox Garden bleach. Pour it on, let it sit, scrub it in, then keep adding more hot water and scrubbing until the red brick emerges. Finish off by hosing it down with cold. It would be easier to cut back all the greenery but not half as pretty so we'll be going through this performance again when it gets humid.
If you look out from the downstairs bath window towards the newly clean brick path this is what you see, a 6' rhododendron that starts to blossom with the palest pink buds and opens to this bright white. Gorgeous.
If only the bathroom were that pretty. It's past Memorial Day and we still have no floating vanity, no sink, no faucet and no tiles. I did get the maple toilet seat for the new Toto but obviously we don't have the Toto yet either. Hey ho.

Red rhododendron

This one is outside the dining room window. I'm posting it now because it's forecast to be 90F today followed by thunderstorms so I don't know how long they will last.
Here's a shot of the purple azaleas outside another dining room window. They are all just about over.



And here's what we used to see outside that window.



We call that progress.