Our garden in May

May can be a beautiful month in Seattle, oftentimes better than June weather-wise . We had a string of sunny days, which did wonders for all the plants and drenched, pale Seattleites alike. Island Point looks magical with all of the rhodies and azaleas blooming. Our rhodies are also the crown jewels of the garden - they must be 40+ years old and explode with color in May. This past winter, a large limb of the pink rhodie broke, but the rest of the tree seems to have survived just fine. Some pictures from around the garden.

Zdravetz in the foreground and pink azaleas in the background. The zdravetz has been attracting lots of bees, much to the annoyance of Tiger & Bubbles. 

The zdravetz has been blooming for the last month.  

We planted an Asian Pear tree a couple of years ago, when we did the big backyard remodel. It bloomed a bit the first year, but there was no fruit. This year, the tree was covered in bloom and we were hopeful we'd get to enjoy some Asian Pears later in the summer. It's looking promising: there must be over two dozen baby pears already! 

Hot pink azaleas 

Tony and I planted red currant together a couple of years ago. Red currant is one of my favorite fruits and it's very hard to find in the stores. The plants have exploded in growth and are now covered with fruit. I can't wait for them to turn into red tart deliciousness. 

Pink rhodie

First tomatoes! These are my favorite cherry variety: Sweet 100 

Rhodies, Magnolia and some blue flowers in the foreground

Spicy wild arugula peppering many of our salads these days

Lemony, heavenly Lemon Verbena. I was so worried I'd lose it when we had several days of snow during the winter. It not only survived, but it's now coming back with a vengeance. I'm looking forward to enjoying lemon verbena tisane, remembering our wonderful trip in the SW of France

Beets, carrots 

Beet greens

First pea pod

Moroccan mint galore

And more mint...mostly chocolate mint and BG "djodjan"

Let the madness begin