Front Flower Garden, After Rain

Everything's bursting out all over after a string of balmy, rainy days. From yesterday to today the peonies went from round, vibrant buds to full-out flowers. One of our rhododendron plants looks a little sick. Dead, actually. But everything else has heeded the call that spring's here.

It's the back flower bed that's unimpressive, save for the potted petunias and the allium that's gotten a lot of press here. Everything back there is green - so green it's monotonous. With the daffodils and crocus just a distant memory (by the way, the deer ate most of those – the wretches), there's not much colorful punch. That'll change soon, but there are also some new empty patches out back. We lost a few plants over the course of last winter. Nothing a few potted perennials can't cure, but with the gardening budget so tight I'd hoped my flower buying was over after the round of annuals. Ah, well.

Paul, the "practical engineer,"dropped the subtle hint killing the flowers and planting grass would make life a lot easier. I made one concession to him. In the area where two fir trees encroached on the flower bed I agreed it was best to replace the flowers with grass. They were getting no light there, anyway.

It's tough keeping up with the weeding, but I have been doing a lot more to help out this spring, maybe because my flowers have been threatened. One problem is evenings are my favorite time to weed, but unfortunately that's also when the mosquitos come out in force. I hate putting on bug spray, but also hate scratching myself to death. And now that the West Nile Virus warnings are starting up again it adds another dimension of excitement. So, the choice is dying from skin cancer or an African virus. What's a girl to do?

Go sit in front, that's what. And enjoy the view.