Working up the flower beds! And a few mysteries to solve.

I did battle with my climbing rosebush.

I love the painting Crimson Rambler, by Philip Leslie Hale.   Ever since I first saw it, I have wanted a climbing rose.  Finally I found one hardy for our area.  It's been in about five years.  When it's pretty, it's really pretty.  But I think the delicate looking lady, sitting gracefully on the porch railing in the painting had a gardener. 

I didn't come out unscathed, but I won the trimming battle for another year.

Sophie and Inge helped me get this bed ready for annuals.

Stella helped me clean out under the Miss Kim Lilac when she got off the bus.  She helped me enlarge the border a foot or so, and then re-arrange the rock edge. 

 A rose, but not the climber, a columbine, daylilies and iris.

A little further around the corner, I have a Shasta daisy, some bright orange oriental lilies, another columbine, more daylilies, some creeping sedum, blue fescue grass, Some daffodils and tulips, a clump of pink coreopsis, and some mystery plants.  Neither of my coral bells came back, but I've never had them before last summer.  Maybe too sunny a bed, too dry a summer, too cold a winter, or maybe it's simply too early for them to be showing themselves.  

Oh, and you can see the wicked climbing rose is at the base of the trellis.

My tarragon, which is not supposed to be hardy here, but comes back every year.  I love the smell of it fresh, but don't really know how to use it in cooking.  Last summer I dried some for use in herbal teas, so we enjoyed it during the winter.

One of the three mints I had last summer.  This is in a different spot than the regular old mint that comes back year after year.  I think I had both chocolate and orange mint, but neither of those fancier ones have ever returned.  I'm not sure which this is. 

This is two views of the same plant.  I found it in a clump of dirt and roots that the kids had dumped out of my pots last fall.  I don't know what it is.  I don't usually plant anything in the pots that will winter over, but something sure did.  Anyone have any ideas?  It's hard to tell in the photo, but the leaves are kind of thick and fuzzy.  Not really fuzzy, just kind of soft.  And wrinkly.  Almost like a verbena. 

This is the first time I've gotten a Shasta daisy to come back.  Do they always get an empty spot in the middle?

This is two views of the same plant, too.  What is it?  I thought I had labeled everything but this is definitely not a weed.  I had a couple of dahlias that I didn't get dug up.  But how in the world would one of those winter over?  But doesn't it kind of look like a dahlia?

I found one coral bell label by a dead looking plant and another in the window well.  Is this by any chance one of my missing coral bells?  It looks too plant-like to be a weed.  I put so many new things in last summer that I just can't remember where they are all supposed to come up. 


Obviously I've not gotten this far in cleaning the beds.  But is this a poppy?  I planted a bunch of Oriental poppies from seed last summer.  Then with the dry weather, not many survived.  But I think this is one of them.  I've never grown them before, but what do you think?  Poppy or some sort of thistle?