Summer stopped by for a quick visit a couple of days last week which was a nice change from the damp, rainy spring days.  Then today, poof — summer retreated and we were back to a wet rainy spring day.   I know that we need both those rains and the bright, sunny days to bring us the beauty of flowers.   That was proven to me on Sunday morning as I was taking a walk around the yard with my visiting Grandog.  He stopped to check something out on the ground and my eye caught something bright in the rosebush we were standing by.  Lo and behold there it was!   My first rose of the season.

I was so happy so see it.  Roses make me happy.   But so do the rest of what is now blooming in my gardens.    I have some beautiful irises making an appearance

With the annuals we’ve added this week, it’s beginning to be quite a colorful landscape out there.

Some of my favorites:

   Geraniums always remind me of my paternal grandparents.  My grandfather had a garden in the yard of their Brooklyn apartment.  There were many things in his garden but I remember how I loved the scent and the slightly fuzzy feel of the leaves on the geraniums .  My grandmother had a window box full of them by the window where we would sit and look out on the backyard.   My gardens wouldn’t be complete without them now.

   The smell of my petunias in the evening as we sit outside on the front porch or out in our backyard is such a welcome reminder that summer is here.

   And the marigolds have such an earthy smell and I can count on them to be brightening the landscape well into the fall.

So that’s what I am seeing as I look out my windows into my gardens or walk around along with some still blooming Azaleas as well as some mystery spring-blooming purple flowers that I never planted but they show up every year.  They could be a weed for all I know but they are pretty and so they are staying.   The Rhododendron bloomed  a couple of days ago and I went around and checked all the Chrysanthemums and most of them made it through the winter and are sprouting their new green leaves.  More promises of fall color.   And the Tiger Lillies are going to put on a beautiful show for us down the road.

I will be adding more marigolds and geraniums for sure and there will be Sunpatiens added to the backyard and some black-eyed Susan’s need to be replaced up front.  I want to add some Dusty Miller around the border of a flowerbed at the edge of the driveway where the Tiger Lillies are.

I hope you are enjoying your gardens as much as I am enjoying mine this year.  Any guesses on whether or not I find some different type of plant I’d like to take home the next time we make a trip to the nursery?  If I was the betting sort, I’d say yes.

Have a good week.  See you soon.

Ginny