What's blooming now

I have been neglecting the garden lately, and it needs a serious weeding, but here is a brief update on what is blooming now:

Swallowtails and House Wrens

Spotted this week in the garden:

House Wren

Tiger Swallowtail

Yay, wildlife!!

Red Admiral Butterfly

Another great thing about planting these echinaceas next to the family room window is that it attracts butterflies and fuzzy bumblebees (June's favorites) which we can watch from the window.  This red admiral butterfly was hanging out on the flowers long enough for June and I to grab the insect guide and look it up.  June was delighted to match the picture to the butterfly.

Filling in

I'm happy to see the perennials I put in last summer filling in the bed outside our family room window.  The window sills in there are low, so it was important to get the flower height just right so that they just peeked over the top of the sill - visible, but not blocking views.  The echinacea, daylilies (already there when we moved in) and black eyed susans were just right. Now I just need to get rid of that morning glory that twists itself around everything, hide that big green sewage pump, and tidy up the gutters.....Oh, and repaint the house :)

Grass Seed Experiment

I finally leveled the rocky, bamboo root infested mound that sat at the southeast corner of our backyard.  I added some of that grass seed/fertilizer/mulch all-in-one products by Pennington.  I also spent an hour breaking up the soil around my new shade garden.and raking in some 3 year old grass seed. 
It is supposed to get hot later this week, so not great timing, but I'm giving it a go.

leveled mound at southeast corner

shade garden at north east corner

Ajuga

My step-mother-in-law also sent over some Ajuga.  I don't know much about it except that it has purple flowers.  When I googled it it came up as "invasive" which seems to describe just about every groundcover out there.  Makes sense, since the point of groundcover is to quickly and thoroughly cover the land.  The description also read "sun/part shade" and I planted it in more of a part shade/shade area so hopefully it won't go too crazy and cover everything.

Ajuga in front row

New Ajuga planted

Painted Ferns - the kindness of strangers

Well, not strangers exactly.....
I mentioned to my step-mother-in-law Julie that we were trying to fill in some shady gaps in the garden and within hours she showed up with ferns.  I was ecstatic to get some big ole ferns in to add some height and texture to the ivy beds on the north side of the house.  She also handed over a hosta which I promptly split in two and planted (you can see one of them along the fence below)
THEN, I walk over to her house the other day, and find two large cardboard boxes of japanese painted ferns!  For me!  Julie mentioned to her friend at work Gwen, that I was in need of some planting material and Gwen yanked some ferns out of her garden.  I hardly even know Gwen, but I find it so sweet that as Julie's friend, and fellow gardener, she went to all that trouble.  So nice!!
The painted ferns had a tough two days in their cardboard box, but I think they'll spring back.  Gwen says they are from the Scott Arboretum and aren't picky about their soil.  We'll see....

 Also note my astilbe blooming.  There is another one next to it, but it is pretty scrawny and it is unlikely that it will bloom.