Memorial Day in the Garden

I've devoted so much time to the inside of the house I've totally ignored everything outside until this weekend.  I had the pleasure of meeting up with fellow blogger Carol Beck from Sofas and Sage and her husband Ian yesterday.  It's an interesting experience meeting another blogger.  We're complete strangers that know each other so well.  I felt like an old friend stopped by.  It was a lot of fun.    

I got the back porch set up so I can start enjoying morning coffee outside and weekend cookouts with friends.  I would love to buy some new furniture for out here but it really doesn't make sense until the porches get rebuilt.  That big white chippy chest that I had out here last year took up too much room so it went out on the street and was picked up in about 10 minutes.  I replaced that with the little console table from the upstairs hallway.  The outdoor rug was $40 on ebay.  The Boston ferns and coleus in the foreground are destined for pots flanking the front door.

I made a little table out of an old ceramic planter topped with a millstone.  The topiaries are enjoying the outdoors for the summer.

A dahlia for guys called "Happy Single Romeo."

I'm trying to propagate some rose cuttings called "Jacotte."  I've put them in ziploc bags to keep the humidity high and tacked them to the back of the porch post to keep them out of direct sunlight.

The garden is a mess.  I moved a lot plants to prepare for the exterior project last summer and haven't yet rearranged things.  My Stella D'oro lilies are over by my neighbor's fence where they're ready to bloom.  I will probably leave them there until after they've bloomed.

My Zephyrine Drouhin is just starting to bloom.  It's an old bourbon rose and is beautifully perfumed.

The ants are hard at work on the peony buds.  I had only one flower last year but I've got 16 buds this year.  I'm looking forward to having some in the house.

Dream Weaver is looking pretty good too.

I have tons of cottage pinks this year too.  Love the fragrance of these sweet little blooms.

I believe this is spiderwort.  I didn't plant it but it's everywhere in the garden; in fact, it's a scourge on the neighborhood.  It seems to be growing along every fence, out of cracks in the sidewalk, everywhere around the neighborhood. It's a nightmare really.  I can't keep hollyhocks in the garden but I can't get rid of this stuff.

I have lots to do outside to get things back to normal but it won't stop me from enjoying a few flowers in the house.

I hope everyone is enjoying a great long weekend.