How can it be a month already since my first garden tour?

Everything has come along in those few short weeks. What’s even more amazing to me is how much things have changed in a single week. We just got back from a trip to visit Matthias’ family and I couldn’t believe how much things have grown in seven days.

The dwarf blueberry plants barely looked alive and now one of them is blooming.

blueberry flowers on a plant in my garden

My strawberry plants are filled with filled with flowers, too.

strawberry plants growing in cinder block raised beds

They’ve spilled out of the holes in the cinderblock raised beds and invaded the paths.

The seeds I planted in the raised beds are coming along, even with the squirrel constantly digging around them and knocking them out of place.

seedlings in rows rearranged by squirrels

Everything is so green and lush (including the weeds, of course!).

Although the angle is different than the photo from last month, it’s clear how much everything has grown and filled out.

(My DIY bee skep from last year has not weathered very well. I’m not sure if I should try to fix it or put it down as a failed experiment).

My little peach tree is fully leafed out (and has grown so much since last year). Sadly I won’t be getting any peaches this year. I only ever saw one flower. But I’ve spotted little green cherries on my Juliet cherry tree.

I’m so excited to watch their progression.

To give you another idea of how much things have grown in just a week, take a look at my butterfly weed:

Before I left it was just beginning to poke out of the soil and now it’s maybe 5 inches tall.

My columbine flowers opened while I was gone. I’d been waiting to see what color they are. I planted some blue and some yellow varieties a couple of years ago and they didn’t show up last spring. I guess they’re gone because the ones that are blooming are red and yellow from seeds I sprinkled.

I bought one this spring with purple flowers and I hope it will come back next year.

I’m never quite sure why some hardy plants disappear. I’ve planted many lupines over the years and all have disappeared.

One of my clematis plants started blooming the morning after we got back:

I have three different varieties and two of the three are doing well. The third one’s leaves have turned yellow.

Possibly a nutrient deficiency. There’s always some problem in the garden, isn’t there? But the problems don’t eclipse the abundance of beauty and wonder.

Soon I’ll have so many more flowers.

Chives: