A Tale of Two Seasons

I took so much time getting around to posting some photos of our garden that it turned from early-May to late-June. So why not take advantage and give some comparisons. I'm so happy that after all these years, our garden looks nice for more than just one month of the year.

In the spring, we have flowering spiraea vanhouttei, phlox, and Georgian blue:

 In the summer, nothing flowering plants from this view but a lot of interesting greenery:

On the lamppost, climbing clematis - and below, flowering verbena:

6 weeks later, the clematis made it all the way up the post (but, oddly, with a total of only 3 flowers all season) and we have yellow and white flowers as well as an Stargazer Oriental Lilly ready to start blooming (you'd think since I planted them, that I'd remember what those yellow and white flowers are, but I have no idea):

In this side, some spirea, a tiny phlox, and alliums in May:

Now, pink hydrangea:

Here's a sequence of 3 photos for this garden. First, newly planted roses bushes and the very start of some tiger lilies, in April:

Then, in May, lots of roses, as well as some red weigela:

Now in June, red tiger lilies (though the red leaves on the rose bushes are slightly concerning):

Our black-eyed Susans are about to wake up, having pretty much overtaken the garden under the picture window (helped by their equally hearty spring friends, the irises).

We've come a long way from when we first moved in and everything bloomed for a few weeks in April and then turned a boring green. We still have the azaleas, camellias, and cherry tree that look great for about 2 weeks only, but we've definitely added some diversity to make the rest of the growing season more interesting.