Random scenes from my yard.

Mostly, I've been in the yard every possible minute the past few months, trying to undo the damage that was done in my year of forced inactivity. It's astounding how quickly things become over-grown and choked with weeds. Even so, the lushness appeals to me.

In the backyard is the tree I call the Dogwisteria. It's an old dogwood, covered in a wisteria vine and English ivy, along with a forsythia growing out of a rotted place in its  trunk. I mean, seriously - does it get more magical than that? In April, both the dogwood and the wisteria bloom at the same time.

In the shade parts of my garden, I have my own trillium, to remind me of the mountains. This one gets dark purple flowers.

All the varieties I have were bought at garden sales, NOT dug up out of the Park. It's illegal and wrong-headed to harvest wildflowers from the GSMNP.

The ajuga, when it's in bloom, echoes the purple of the wild violets in the yard. Behind it is an enormous snowball bush that I had to cut back. My next-door neighbor threatened to shoot me if I cut too much of it down.

Hostas, hellebores, and ferns, among other things. All the wild violets mixed in there are in the process of being weeded out.

I took this shot right after it rained and in the morning light, the yard looked absolutely electric.

Another weigela, like the fuschia-colored on in the photo abaove it.

Clematis growing on the mailbox post, with dianthus on the ground around it.

I didn't get photos of many of the tulips, but I did like these red and yellow ones.

The lilacs by the front door aren't in bloom long, but when they are, the air smells heavenly.

This giant old rhododendron by the garage gets masses of blooms.

I believe those are spider lilies behind the hosta. They were planted by the former owner.

I put in an apricot-colored rose bush by the crabapple tree, and it seems to love that spot.

A little desert-in-a-pot by the walkway. It has a variety of succulents, some of which have spilled over to the ground below it.

The mock orange bloomed for he first time this year, along with some Carolina geranium I swear I did not put there. Behind it, you can see the clover is now in bloom and is generally hosting roughly a million happily buzzing honeybees and bumblebees.

And back to the Dogwisteria, now all leafed out. Have I ever mentioned how much I love spring?