A before and after

I'll start with the after...even though with all this wonderful weather we are having the after will soon become the beginning again!, . At the end of last summer I dug out most of the plants like Bronze Fennel  ( too tall, too many) , much of the Helianthus ( too tall , too many) and the Feather grass ...to tall.

I've been busy replacing with mid height planting, most I've grown from seed this year. Mickey is happy to be able to see over the planting 

It's fluffing out by the hour ! , still a few holes to fill in . But I'll be adding more plantss as the summer goes on.

All the  tall plants I dug up were replanted against the fence. 

Mostly green just now, but that will change .

This was the mess I made last year .

And here are all the too tall and too many .

More May

 I Thought I'd better carry on celebrating May before it's over .
The first Roses are appearing , I seem to have collected so many  Roses , including the ones that came with the house , like this one. They are all tucked into shrubs , so they are taking time to make an impact , If they survive that is.

Purple Aquilegia and Red NOID  Peonies in the front garden. 

Oriental poppy 'Turkish delight ' has self seeded quite a bit and gotten very big , it's a shame after blooming it dies very badly.  I usually squash it down under some other plants till I can cut it down.

The  red Peonies came with the house , but were in what was to become my shade garden , so I dug / split  and moved them to the new open area after  we removed the big lawn a few year ago.
They seem to love it here .  I like the big bold red this time of year when there is not so much blooming.

Little patches of Erigeron... more, more and more  every year 

Armeria marittima 'rubrifolia'  making a good sized mound now.

The first Dianthus... pink , that's all I know .

Linum perenne var lewisii  planted last year , I hope you self seed .

 Lysimachia atropurpurea , now this one is a self seeder ,  but not annoying so ...yet .

Once I get into all this planting and  sift through  the undesirables I am left with holes , which is where all my annuals I've got growing will fill in . Yup ...got to get going.

Slow down May ..

I can't keep up with  the garden actively all  the rain and sun May brings . I've already had to dig and move plants that I had grown from seed and had just planted out a few weeks ago. And  if I don't get around  every bit of the garden every day , I'm sure to miss something new  blooming .

Euphorbia oblongata  self seeds a lot , but it does  fills in and I love the freshness it brings. I always cut it  way back after  the other plants catch up , then it re-blooms or dies in some cases . no problem , no shortage of these .

Last year I moved most of the planting , trying to bulk up the fence line , now that the Bamboo is gone. 

This is where I've had to move my new plants I grew, I'm trying to extend the blooming in the shade garden , but the shade plants are not having it ... no space they say.

The area on the right of the central border is still a bit thin , all new planting in here. I've been taking it easy , didn't want to  plant over the top of something that hasn't come up yet , which I've done before.