A spring garden in Colorado

Today I thought I'd share what a spring Colorado garden looks like.  Usually May is the month where things just start to bloom, trees get their buds and early spring flowers begin their flowering while hoping the snow holds off and doesn't kill them. 

I have two gardens one in the front of the house and one in the back.
The above picture is of my lilac bush in the back garden.  It usually doesn't bloom until the end of May but with the warm weather we've had in April it is crazy loaded with blooms and simply beautiful even if it is almost 4 weeks early. 

Here is my pink peony bush.  It is in the front of the house with morning sun so it takes it a bit longer to get going but once it does the pink blooms are so heavy I end up tying a string around it or putting a small fence around it.  Otherwise the blooms will drag the ground.  I love peonies.  They are easy to take care of, you only need to cut the dead stalks to the ground in the fall and wait for them to come up again next spring. 

They do need a bit of room to spread out though; as you can see my boxwood has gotten really big and is starting to crowd it out. 

I have more ornamental bushes across the front of my house.  It is simply for the ease of the owner, ah that would be ME!  I have several Prince Albert Dwarf Spruce trees, the boxwood and peony bush along with a variegated boxwood that as you can tell from the above picture didn't do well this past winter and this red bush with thorns on it.  Sorry I don't know what it is, I bought it to bring some color to the front along with the variegated boxwood... this bush did much better than the boxwood.

I do have some bulbs planted in there, tulips, daffodils and calla-lilies.  To add another pop of color I always buy a flat of different colored pansies to plant around. 

In the backyard I have a bit more space so I can test out a lot of bushing or climbing plants to see what works, what I like and what needs to be dug up and given to a relative. 
You've seen the lilac bush already...

I've also got this bush, I have no idea what it is but it is crazy cool!

I got it last year at a nursery here in Monument Colorado along with a honeysuckle and clematis.  They are both doing great as well.

 

The clematis is the shorter and thinner of the two.  I don't expect it to bloom this year but I do expect the orange honeysuckle to bloom any day now. 
I also have the Colorado state flower, Columbine.

They come in a variety of colors including pink and purple.  They are very delicate flowers but really pretty.
I also have this little bush, again I got it last year and when planting I didn't save the identifier tags that come with the flowers... I really need to start doing that.

Also planted back here is a variety of bulbs including dahlias (they won't come up till July), tulips, daffodils,  grape hyacinth, lily of the valley and these cool looking guys. 

They will get big purple pom-poms on them. 

I also throw a variety of flower seeds that attract hummingbirds and butterflies and just throw some Happy Frog soil over them and a bit of water and by summer I'll have wildflowers growing like crazy.  I buy the flower seed at Home Depot.  Finally I've got marigolds.  I've talked about self seeding flowers before; I think they are your biggest bang for your buck as they will re-grow over and over.  I will harvest the seeds of many of my wildflowers and move them around my garden to get better exposure for them.  Part of my garden gets only late afternoon sun while other parts get all day sun.  Some flowers do better depending on the sun exposure so I will move things around. 

Oh, I also bought this at Home Depot a few weeks ago.  Once it gets moving in the wind it is very cool.

My husband put it where our old dead tree was for now.  If you live in a windy area and find this at Home Depot I'd get it, it really does look amazing still and moving. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I'll show my garden some more once things grow a bit.  I'll let you know what is working and what isn't. 
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Until next week, stay safe.
Victoria

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