My opinion of poppies sways back and forth in the wind - just like they do. They are 'stop-the-car' gorgeous when they are in full bloom, but they have such a short bloom time and are so wildly invasive. Clearly I have the non-hybrid kind. I could swear I bought these at a plant nursery. I even have a plastic plant tag with a name and picture on it....hmmm. The invasive part is super annoying - they are taking over the flower bed they are planted in. I have had an inner argument with myself for years whether or not to keep these poppies. So after careful thought, I had a recent digging frenzy and removed as many of these poppies as I could find and threw them in the field. I probably missed some roots, so they will no doubt be back next year for me to enjoy for one week and then complain about some more. And do more digging...

Rain, rain, and more rain -- that's been the story here in western Wisconsin for the past month. One inch here, two inches there, drizzling rain, pounding rain, all-day rain, and off-and-on rain. We gardeners love rain, but this may be too much of a good thing!

While my plants have never looked better, for the first time ever I have some daylilies that have exhibited 'scape blasting.' It's when a daylily scape cracks and bursts and all the flowers on it are lost. Scape blasting can be caused by heavy rain such as we've had lately. Internal pressure builds up inside of the scape and it explodes.  Some daylilies are more prone to this than others. If interested, you can read more about scape blasting on the American Hemerocallis Society website.

I took two photos of different stages of scape blasting.  The first photo is my 'Virginia B. Hanson' that has a burst and severed scape that mimics a peeled banana! The second photo is 'Drowning in Desire' with scape blasting just starting.

Here's hoping I don't see too much more of this!

Here are three of my early blooming clematis varieties: Gillian Blades (white with a hint of lavender on the edges), Niobe (dark reddish-purple), and Nelly Moser (pink). All three are Zone 4 hardy. These beautiful climbers help pacify me until my daylilies start sending up scapes. I was particularly pleased to see Nelly Moser bounce back nicely this year. Nelly was a mature plant I had for many years on a trellis by our garage. When we did some garage re-construction in 2014, Nelly had to be dug up and transplanted. Needless to say, I transplanted her with much trepidation. Last year was unremarkable, but this year all is well and she appears very happy in her new location. Phew!

Clematis are mainly of Chinese and Japanese origin. There has always been a pronunciation debate: Is it "KLEM-uh-tis" or "Kle-MAT-is?" Depending on what area you live in people pronounce it differently. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary has both pronunciations listed as being correct.

It's so nice to see these pops of color early in the growing season to complement the iris.