"Just Be" Gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

I finally decided to name my back gardens. I have dreamed of woodland gardens with paths meandering through perennials and wildflowers. I've been working on my gardens for a number of years, continually adding natives to attract butterflies, bees, birds and other wildlife and pollinators. This spring is turning out to be it's most beautiful time yet.

"Just Be Gardens"...A place to Be.

In Balance. With Birds. With Butterflies.

With Bees. In Beauty. Blessed. Just Be.

And we just added a water garden to the yard, with 4 waterfalls and a curving stream. I am so excited thinking about all the plants I'm going to add to the edges and surrounding area. We mulched the rest of the entire back yard so now there is space to add more shrubs and other perennials. It won't get done all at once...it will be a process and take time.

I want to be out there every day, all day~but that's just not practical! It's nice to enjoy what I have, at the moment...but also to dream about what I'd like to add and what it can look like in a few years.  I will add another seating area with a good view of the water garden area and I'm sure I will have more photos than I know what to do with!

What's in bloom in my woodland gardens? Lots!

Siberion Buglose (Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost') Top Left; Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabalis) Top Right;
Lungwort (Pulmonaria 'Raspberry Splash') Bottom Left; and Native Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica) Bottom Right

Another shot (although the light is a bit bright) of Pulmonaria 'Raspberry Splash' along with Pulmonaria 'Gaelic Spring'.  I also planted Pulmonaria 'Barfield Pink' last year but it has not come up at this point.

Lungwort (Pulmonaria) 'Raspberry Splash' Left, and 'Gaelic Spring' Right

Clockwise starting top Left: Native Red Trillium (Trillium recurvatum); Native Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis);
Snowdrop Anenome (Anenome Sylvestris);  Lenton Rose (Helleborus 'Pink Lady'); and Native Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)

Native Wild Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) Top Left, with a native dwarf variety 'Little Lanterns', Bottom Left;
Native Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata) Top Right;
Native Barronwort or Bishop's Hat (Epimedium x rubrum) Bottom Right

Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia) Top L; Hellebore Top R; Spotted Deadnettle (Lamium) 'Shell Pink' Bottom R;
Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans) 'Chocolate Chip'

Lately, the azaleas buds have been fattening out and many will soon be blooming. Although the Kerria have been in bloom for weeks, they continue to shine. It seems most of my front gardens are filled with later spring to fall blooming perennial plants, but just a little while ago I checked and was surprised to see that the Euphorbia 'Bonfire' was blooming, as was the Geum 'Flames of Passion'.

(Top) L: Azalea; R: Kerria Japonica
(Bottom) L: Euphorbia 'Bonfire'; R: Geum 'Flames of Passion'

Many of the hyacinths and daffodils have passed their prime, but two varieties of daffodil remain in full bloom.

unknown Narcissus varieties

The other stars in the front yard, at the moment, are the tulips and creeping phlox, accented by a few grape hyacinth, rockcress, candytuft and blue star creeper and forget-me-nots.

Candytuft (Iberis sempervirans) Left; Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis sylvatica) Center;
Rockcress (Arabis 'Snow Cap') Top; Native Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata) Right & Bottom

Despite losing quite a few tulips to those darned 'gnawers' (most likely the zillions of squirrels that hang out here)

...quite a few tulip bulbs actually have managed to sprout and bloom this year. This is mostly due to going wild with spraying and sprinkling organic critter repellent throughout the gardens. I've decided spending a few minutes every month or two doing that is worth the price when I see the results:

Tulips (Tulipa) surrounded by: Blue Star Creeper (Isotoma fluviatilis) Center;
and Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) Top Right

Now we're off to visit my mom and my sister's family in Delaware for a few days of my son's spring break. While in DE, I'm also taking a day trip to visit Carolyn from Carolyn's Shade Gardens and Jean from Jean's Garden at Carolyn's nursery in PA. I am going to buy some plants (!), we plan to take a picnic lunch, and Carolyn is going to take us to visit Chanticleer gardens. Neither Jean nor I have ever been so we're both excited. Plus, the 3 of us have never met so this is a blogging adventure;-)

When I get home, I am hoping to find some time to 'Just Be' in my garden! Despite the busy-ness of life, I hope you can find time to do the same;-)  Please visit May Dreams Gardens to see what's in bloom around the world for this April 15th Garden Blogger Bloom Day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *Have you stopped over to participate in the Gardeners' Sustainable Living Project? Today is the last day! For Earth Day, I am giving away over 20 garden gifts including a Rain Barrel and a Composter. Be sure to check it  out!

Words and photos ©Thanks for today.™, by Jan Huston Doble @ http://www.thanksfor2day.blogspot.com/

Not to be reproduced or re-blogged without express permission of the author.