West Front Yard

Spring has come, and I need to do some posts on what's going on in the front yard.  We'll start with the area where the tree used to be.

I've shown heuchera richardsonii lots, as it is one of my favorite plants native to our area.  Look how nice the foliage looks!

In a few weeks, this area will look much different.  I planted some Illinois Bundleflower seeds in the area on the right last fall.  I hope they come up.

There are a number of plants coming up that I don't remember what they are.  I'm wondering if this is a purple coneflower, but I'm not sure.  Do you know?

The Zizia aurea plants sure are looking good.

The pussytoes are doing fine.

Here's another one I'm not sure of.  I looked at photos of the plants growing in the summer, but couldn't figure it out.  I wonder if it's Ironweed.

This is Cup Plant.  One thing I did find while looking at older blog posts, was what's growing next to the Cup Plant.

I had forgotten that I'd moved a little of the Virginia Bluebells to this area.  I hope this grows and spreads. It's awfully close to the Cup Plant, but it does go dormant.  I'll see how it plays out.

This is a meadow rue, I think.

I'm still trying to figure out what this is, by looking at past photos of the area.  It could be nodding ladies tresses, but I'm not sure.

This is one of three clumps of Pasque Flower blooming along the sidewalk going up to the house.

You can see the clump of Pasque Flower in this photo. Soon, there will be more plants filling up the spaces.  The cage is around a Purple Prairie Clover, which seems to be one of the favorites of the rabbits.

I'm thinking this is a different kind of mountain mint from the other kinds I have.

I think this Blue Lobelia may have gone dormant last summer.  For some reason, I was thinking it didn't make it.  I hope it does well this year.

The Zig Zag Goldenrod looks to be doing well.

I don't remember what this is.  Hopefully, I'll get it figured out.

There are several of these here and there.  I wonder if it's a phlox of some kind.

I'm glad to see the various grasses are greening up.  I think this is Little Bluestem.

There are some Larkspur seedlings that look a little more delicate than the others.  I am hoping they are the native ones I planted last fall to come up in the spring.  Time will tell.

I started this post a couple days ago, and as I think of things to say for each photo, I'm kind of wondering why I'm even doing this post.  I guess it's so I can see the different young plants, it will help me remember what was up, and what it looked like this time of year.   Also, maybe others can help me identify the ones I'm not sure about.  This is facing west.  Look at all that dirt!  By July, there won't be much of it showing.

This is now the third or fourth day of working on this post.  Since it is cool and rainy, I think I'll be able to finish up this evening.  I had a fun weekend digging up plants and sharing them with some nice folks from a local gardening group on Facebook.

I have two clumps of Coreopsis lanceolata.  I see an "L" on the end of it online, but don't remember if that's what was on the tag.  It's nice to see that much green this time of year.

This is a white blooming poppy mallow.  The others with the deep pinkish blooms are greening up nicely, too.

Prairie Smoke geum is one of the plants that I have in a number of the planting areas.  I noticed one blooming in the curb bed yesterday.  I think the plant on the right is a penstemon of some kind.

Here's the other Coreopsis. The Switchgrass near it is starting to send some green up, as is the yarrow.  I hope the Wild Senna comes up.

The Heleniums in the yard are growing.  I'm glad to see the strawberries are spreading.

I think planting the strawberries under the bench was an impulse decision.  I'm glad I did it.  We had some pretty good tasting berries last year.

The Rudbeckia 'Goldquelle' that I moved from the side of the house seems to like it in the front of the house.  It has spread nicely.  One of the Hellebores did not bloom this year, but is sending up nice looking leaves, that are just to the left of what's in the photo.  The other one is doing fine.  They will welcome the shade when the plants around them grow taller.

Here is a closer view of the Hellebore.

 

I used to have more daffodils in this bed, but took some out so there would not be so much foliage dying and getting ugly before it could be pulled out.

The lower area here is just behind the bench.  I know someone who plans on taking the rest of the lamium and lamb's ears.  I plan on letting the strawberries take over the area.  There are three peonies that have been here since before we moved in, which are now poking up through the dirt.

Here's the view from where I just showed a photo of.

I am so excited to see this area fill in again this spring and summer!

Continuing to the east, I am excited to report that some of the seeds I planted look to be coming up.  I planted Illinois Bundle Flower in the area where all the dirt is.  I hope it does well!

This is the area to the south from where the previous photo was taken.

I'm not sure what kind of penstemon this is, but I'm glad it has grown.

I just love this time of year, and I am giddy with the joy of seeing daily changes in the flower beds.  There are new plants popping up, and you can see the growth, in some cases, daily.  We've finally had some good days to be outside, but for the next few days will have to go through some colder weather, with lows in the upper 20s.  I am trying to decide whether to cut some of the flowers to bring inside to enjoy.  I found a small cold frame to buy from someone in the local gardening group I am in, but don't plan on picking it up until Thursday.  The first seeds of lettuce, spinach, and radishes are up, but I'm not too worried.  The lettuce I planted last fall that did not get large enough to harvest survived winter, and now, looks to be growing!

May we all be patient with our weather, and enjoy whatever nice days we have.