Around the Yard 2012, Part 2

Took some more pictures of the front and back gardens recently. My clematis is blooming and I've already had to trim down the ever-expanding burning bush next to it.

My columbine are providing a bit of spring colour with their alien-like flowers...

.... and the peonies are about to unfurl their humungous blooms while the irises wait in the wings.

The hyacinths are sparse as usual, but after doing a bit of research I think I may try "beheading" them and fertilizing heavily for a couple of years and seeing what happens.

Stuff is happening in the backyard too.  I've decided to plant an flower garden in one of our raised beds and see how it does. Since this will be my first annual garden, I'm not sure how it will look or grow... but it was lots of fun buying whole flats of flowers and loading up one of those garden carts at Terra. I think if the annuals do well this year, I'll have to start a whole bunch from seed next year. It can get pretty expensive buying plants that only survive the four short months of temperate weather we get.

Sparsely planted in the hope that they will flourish and spread [fingers crossed].

The Japanese maples are going full-force and as soon as the saps stop running, I've got to give them all massive "haircuts".

Love the lacy leaves on our Dragon's Claw maple.

(Check out the free bench we got from someone's garbage! It will eventually need some new slats and screws, but it's functional and provides us with some extra bbq/party seating. On a side note, we've also scavenged a bicycle and ride-along toy from this person's house and I am considering just knocking on their door and telling them that they can deposit their unwanted stuff directly onto our driveway :)

I love this time of year when everything is fresh and just emerging. It really is quite basic - this feeling of renewal that spring brings. I guess I need the invigoration since spring and summer bring so much manual labour as well... Let the pruning, dead-heading, watering and weeding begin