Plenty of Pink Blooms

The backyard gardens have plenty of pink flowers opening right now.  Also a little orange, violet and lavender, but mostly pink.  Among them are 'Harmony Series - Orchid' Anemone coronaria, which are supposed to be hardy here in zone 5.  Most A. coronaria cannot withstand our winter cold, but this pretty little plant is more sturdy.  When I saw it at Lowes last week, I immediately snatched up a couple of pots.



Here is another shot of the Anemone.  Gorgeous color, lots of fluffy petals, delicate black center - I'm in love.  And if this is part of a series, then other colors may come out soon?  How exciting for us cold climate folks.

There are several shades of pink creeping phlox blooming around the edges of the pathway.  In this view you can also see spiky leaves of Siberian iris and chartreuse 'Ogon'/'Mellow Yellow' spirea in the background.

The 'Capital Red' tree peonies have finally produced a couple of blooms, despite being stepped on and broken (my fault while pruning the crabapples) and having their leaves stripped (my youngest son's doing).  They also struggle with Botrytis fungus that cause the leaves to turn black, wither, and fall.  I sprayed with an organic fungicide - Actinovate - but have still noticed a few leaves succumbing.  Anyway, the flowers aren't full sized yet and are deep pink instead of red, but they're lovely.

The three baby 'Helsinki University' rhododendrons have only two flower heads between them, but they all have a lot of leaf buds emerging.  At this point I'd rather sacrifice flowers for leaf growth anyway, so it's perfect. 

Good old 'Dusseldorf Pride' Armeria makes a cheerful little edger along the path.  I have been thinking a lot about what plants I could add to fill in around the edges of the path.  There is still plenty of empty space there.

'Asao' is the first of my eleven clematis vines to start blooming.  I have planted several more of them this spring.  There isn't much room for more shrubs or perennials, but I found space to squeeze in more vines.

Here is the first fully opened bloom.  I am looking forward to using clematis in flower arrangements, which I haven't yet tried.  It is going to be a fun year for floral arranging with plenty of material from the garden thanks to the landscaping project last spring.