My Favorite Spot, May 11th

The SE side of our yard was a mess when we moved in. It’s shaded by a Norway spruce, 3 holly trees, and an enormous burning bush. The remaining spaces were filled with ivy, an Annabelle hydrangea, scraggly grass, and lawn violets. I smothered it all with leaves in the Fall of 2005. This week, my favorite spot is a portion of that border, beneath the female holly tree and just south of the shade bed.

This is sort of a rescue/wild area. One of our neighbors announced her intent to redo a portion of her backyard that had been the previous owner’s attempt at a wildflower garden. I transplanted at least a dozen columbine and several solomon’s seal. (I also successfully rescued a redbud, but that is planted elsewhere.) I added ‘Francee’ hosta that had been unhappy near the deck, ferns from along the SE side of the house, brunnera from the SW shrub border, and a Nikko Blue hydrangea that I got a great deal on at Funke's. Finally, I’ve added more wildflowers – toad lily from Pam, trillium from Tim, bleeding heart from Meijer (I’ve had really good results with the boxed, bareroot Dicentra), and Virginia bluebells from some mail order company. (And all these plants are just in the small circle around the holly. I’ve got even more interesting gems on the other side of the path!)

The columbine are currently blooming and I love the effect of the pale pink and deep purple blooms against the last of the bleeding heart and brunnera. It isn’t too far from the wallflower, so I get to enjoy sweet perfume as I pull tree seedlings from the leaf litter. Later in the season, I’ll enjoy orchid-like toad lilies, outrageously plump hydrangea flower heads, and the heady scent august lilies. I expect this to be my favorite spot more than once this season.