Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Happy May Day!

Happy May Day!
Doesn't this photograph look as though it came from a May Basket?
I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose
I would always greet it in a garden.
- Ruth Stout


This is the first blossom I've had on my PM Rhododendron!
Spring is God's way of saying,
"One more time!"
- Robert Orben

Brunnera Macrophylla "Heartleaf Brunnera"
The flowers are the size of "Forget-Me-Nots"
(Very Tiny!)
A delicate fabric of bird song
Floats in the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.
Oh, I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;
For how can I be sure
I shall see again

The world on the first of May
Shining after the rain?

- Sara Teasdale, May Day

Vinca Minor

Vinca Minor, a close-up!
Spring - An experience in immortality.
- Henry D. Thoreau

These are the flowers of my Serviceberry.
(Last Fall's "Mystery Bush." I finally located
the landscaping blueprint!)

Emerging leaves of the serviceberry.

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.
- Emily Dickinson, #1333

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another.
The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.
- Henry Van Dyke, Fisherman's Luck, 1899

Here's where we need the Top Hat and Tails!
Mr. White-on-White, I think he's "Mt. Hood."

Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment.
- Ellis Peters

Tiarella (Foam Flower) "Black Snowflake"
"Black Snowflake" cameo shot!
Pulmonaria, Lungwort, "Diana Clare"
with the nodding approval of an "Ice Follies" Daffodil.

Tiarella (Foam Flower) "Iron Butterfly"

I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become,
I will always plant a large garden in the spring. Who can
resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from
participating in nature's rebirth?
- Edward Giobbi

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day
Join and visit Carolyn Gail
Sweet Home and Garden Chicago


9 comments:

Sweet Home and Garden Carolina said...

Lovely musings! Thanks so much for participating in GBMD.

Anonymous said...

I live in Usa city of Japan. Thank you for the beautiful photograph. I copied it. Since most plants which appear in your blog were the same as the plant in Japan, I was surprised.

Please see the yard which I made.
http://iyasaka.blogspot.com/

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Carolyn Gail, Thanks for your visit. You've provided a fun way to combine two lovely "art forms." :-)

akinobu nakashima, Thank yo ufor your kind comments. You have a lovely garden blog.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

So, I take it you like May. :-) We seem to have a lot of things in common - I'm also an Ellis Peters fan, & I have both those Daffodils & Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly.' I'm glad you were finally able to ID the mystery shrub.

Gail said...

shady,
Spring is coming along nicely in your part of the world...

Very nice poems and musings!

Gail

Anonymous said...

Shady - A delightful posting for the first day of May... the photos and poetry were a perfect fit and I enjoyed seeing all those specimens.

Shady Gardener said...

MMD, I think we DO have a lot in common! Wait 'til you hear about an original shrub planting in front. It is SO aromatic as well as beautiful!

Gail, Thanks for stopping by. You always are fun to visit.

GA, Thanks! I'm so happy you visited. It's hard NOT to take pictures these days. ;-)

Annie in Austin said...

May Day is long over but posts wait for the tardy reader, thank heavens!

I love all your photos and quotes, Shady Gardener, and like MMD, am a longtime Ellis Peters fan and I think May Dreams Carol owns every single volume in the series.

You also reminded me that I miss the Brunnera from my old IL garden.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Shady Gardener said...

Annie, I'm so glad you visited. It's a busy time of year, and I find it Very Hard to do much more than just sit here periodically and do my own posting. :-)

Do you know that I just found a New Brunnera today? I'll be recording the name soon... but it's more "allover light" than Jack Frost. I was pretty excited!! ;-)