July - High Mountain Flowers

 This beautiful swallowtail and or her friends was a frequent visitor to my garden this summer.  They especially seem to love the dianthus but this one is alight my raspberry canes.  My kids are fascinated by our butterfly visitors and took this picture.

 Every July we head up north to Tendoy in Lemhi County at the base of the Continental Divide.  We spend a few days riding around the back roads and trails on 4-wheelers and motor bikes.  This year I was completely taken with all of the flowers blooming along the Lewis and Clark Adventure Byway Road up onto the Continental Divide.  I don't know all of their names but hope to someday.

 A favorite spot is the Sacajawea Memorial Trial and Park.  Here are my kids and a cousin posing at a little spring, the headwaters of the Missouri River.

 I think this is a kind of penstemon, or beard's tongue.

 This looked like a tall hardy geranium.

This one a shorter or maybe younger version of hardy or sticky geranium.

Early June: Late Spring Brings Burst of Color

I am still chasing away those winter blues by reminiscing over my gardens in the warm weather.  My little woodland garden cozied up to the front walk brings me joy every time I look out my front window.   

 The bleeding hearts are still in full bloom.  I collect an annual dianthus each year on Mother's Day from our church and add them to the garden.  Most of them have wintered over well and become perennials.  My primrose have faded but my new Bluebells of Scotland are taking off.  The hostas are unfolding and the columbine has started to bloom.  The liner on my well had a hole this year and I never did I get a new liner so I couldn't get my fountain going.  I added a container of Hens and Chicks as an homage to Handsome Hubby's many great grandmother Christiana Penn, an early settler of New England and avid gardener as her journal attests.

 Close-up on the colors of the woodland garden.  I love pink, maybe a little too much.

My Niobi Clematis and unknown Iris bloomed together this year providing such a nice complement to each other.  These iris are descendants of the ones I remember growing in the west side of my mother's house when I was a girl.  Back then we called them flags and I loved their intricate shape and colors.

 My transplanted columbine are taking off.  I just love these plants.

This is my Syringa or Mockorange, philedelphus lewisii, the state flower of Idaho.  I love the smell of the blossoms and the way the blue hardy geranium sets off the white.  I wish that it would bloom longer.

Happy Mother's Day to Me

During the warm weather I never seemed to find the time to sit down and share photos of my gardens.  Now that it is snow covered and frigid outside I find myself daydreaming of that warm weather.  Catching up on my garden blog seemed the perfect therapy for chasing away my winter blues.

This Mother's Day I said that I wanted to finally finish off my gardens in the front.  Handsome Husband laid 6 in steel strip edging along the front garden border while I picked out and laid this cute rock edge for my woodland garden.  Then we filled all of the front beds with this lovely dark bark mulch.  I love how the green of my plants brightens up against the dark wood.

 I also got to set out my cute garden ornaments that my kids bought me for Christmas.  My gnome is getting a little overshadowed by the iris, I'm pretty sure that I pulled him forward.  I also planted some Calico Jack Daylilies along that front.  They never bloomed in 2012 but I am hoping for a good showing in 2013.

 I picked up these cute butterflies at the Dollar store and attached them to little stakes.  Along with my fairy house they lend a whimsical touch to my woodland garden.  I love the contrast of the bright tulips against the white bleeding heart.

 These little primroses are pretty powerhouses.  Just as they are beginning to fade I clipped them off and added them to the Memorial Day bouquets that I make to decorate our loved ones graves.  I added 2 Bluebells of Scotland this year ( a little hat tip to my heritage), you can see one peeking behind the fairy house.  I was pleasantly surprised that they bloomed and re-bloomed nearly all season.

My lilac was an early bloomer this year.  This picture was taken May 15.  Most years I use them in the Memorial Day bouquets but they were almost all spent by then this year.