My early May post showed the spring flowers up and I had planted the early vegetables. My original flowerbed out back was still covered with leaves. Since then, planting season came and we are now past the risk of frost. We have had an abundance of rain and everything is lush and green. Above, the chives are flowering.

Let's go for a tour!

This is the current view of my original garden. It's a combination of perennials, a few annuals, and herbs. I have planted a few things that you can't quite see from here but I have yet to jump in and make it... um... presentable, mostly by hacking back the periwinkles.

For comparison, this was mid-April.

Starting on the left, I repaired the trellis and although I vowed not to plant another clematis, I planted another clematis. Maybe the shot of manure I put in its hole will give it a better chance at getting established. There will be a tall zinnia going into the space beside it.

The Lungwort is on the very left edge hiding the black plastic border. It's finished flowering and will soon be overshadowed by the hosta.

The Creeping Phlox is also past peak beauty.

Above, May 18. I just see work every time I look at it! The stray daylilies and periwinkles are yet to be brought back under control. The submerged pot is my regular mint and the other, the mojito mint, is outside of that. There are herbs to the front and a hole in the back that I try but don't always succeed in filling. Everything got some manure this spring.

Same spot, 3 weeks later. After I hack back the periwinkles, you will be able to see the 2 types of mint and the new bee balm behind it.

Regular mint.

Mojito mint.

Russian tarragon is a tender perennial that has been surviving our winters and is now in its 5th year.

Chives are pretty so I have them in several places. This patch is particularly tall this year from the manure and all of the rain.

Every year, I tie the hardy kiwi to the trellis and fence again.

I place a few small zinnias around for colour. This one is near the herbs but all you see is a zinnias surrounded by periwinkles. I might need a machete!

The bearded irises are in full bloom. With this garden becoming shadier every year, I plan to move them to a spot with more light. Behind them are more daylilies and another hosta.

Beautiful and with a nice scent.

At the very right edge of the garden is one lone lily.

My new garden is not as bad as it looks! Once the rain stops, I will weed it and mow the lawn, and it won't look so bad. The little white violets have overtaken the left side and there are Mexican sunflowers and milkweed popping up amongst them. I have too many of those white violets.

The same garden in mid-April getting some manure when only the tops of the hyacinths were showing.

I originally started this flowerbed for the milkweed. Now I must make sure they don't take over!

In front of the milkweed, there are 2 short rows of Rainbow Swiss chard.

I over-planted the pole beans as I predicted something would eat them, and some little creature is doing just that! One year, I planted Scarlet Runner beans 3 times and never had one reach maturity.

In front of them are the Thai Basil and the bunching onions. They aren't doing as well as expected and I don't know if you heard about our "weather event," called a Derecho, that came through here and left us with our worst power outage in history. I think it flattened them.

A derecho is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms known as a mesoscale convective system. Derechos can cause hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, heavy rains, and flash floods. ~Wikipedia

I took this photo in the same minute that my power went out, and it stayed off for 1-1/2 days. While most people had their power back by the end of the week, there are still homes that have not regained theirs 16 days later.

Here are peas, onions, and cucumbers. There is room at the back for the sunflowers -- a friend gave me some yesterday -- and the cucumbers are going to hide the hyacinths which are done flowering. I have planted the vegetables in patches rather than typical garden rows and mixed flowers with them so it doesn't look like a vegetable garden.

The peas are thriving.

There are field cucumbers and Lebanese cucumbers.

This is some Rosemary that will come inside in the fall.

Hostas gone wild!

The Hostas on May 18.

At least the planters are always neat.

Next, we go to the front yard.

In the front yard, I have more perennials and I usually plant a few annuals, put my geraniums in the flowerbed for the summer, mulch, hang out my fuschia basket, and I'm done.