So much going on and the garden and greenhouse are changing daily.  Here are some pictures of today’s highlights:

Hippeastrum/Sprekelia cross just popped up in the greenhouse.  The pot of bulbs has three spikes this year.

I planted most of the year’s seedlings into patio pots today.  I couldn’t get the phone camera to focus because of this white impatiens–the camera just didn’t like the light reflecting from it.  I only ended up with three seedlings, but that is perfect for the one pot on the back patio for which these were destined.

Strelitzia reginae just opening in the greenhouse.  Watching this intricate, odd flower open is a fun endeavor.

One of the patio pots I planted today with pelargonium, snapdragon, and salvia.

The gorgeous red hippeastrum is still blooming well.   Photos don’t do it justice.

But that won’t stop me from trying to do it justice…

Pelargonium “Grossersorten” blooming all through the greenhouse.  I keep many starts of these favorites growing every year.  The combination of dark, healthy, zoned foliage and the clean coral pink flowers.

The David Austin roses are really putting on a show around the orchard garden.

The form of the flowers, the colors and the scent–it all adds up to an exceptional show.  My only complaint is that the bushes aren’t particularly strong, but I think possibly this is due to a lack of sun and the ravages to the ever-present bindweed.  I am taking time and effort to keep the rampaging vines off the roses, but it is a Herculean task.

Another slightly different view.  This one is Fighting Temeraire.

This bulbous gem is the one remaining Nectarscordum siculum left in the garden.  I probably started with twenty-five of them ten years ago and they slowly died out.  I’ll likely add some more this autumn since they have such interesting blooms held high enough to notice.

The gorgeous rose on the Jeff Tangen arbor started blooming last week.  The fragrance is remarkable when you pass underneath.

Close-up showing how the flowers open a soft apricot yellow and fade to cream and then white.

Styrax japonica blooming over the koi pond.  This graceful tree is a mixed blessing–beautiful, but pretty messy (and a bit poisonous), so not the best choice for over a pond.  In this case, though, what’s done is done–the tree is twenty years old and I’ve yet to come up with a better solution for that particular space.

Every year I intend to plant perennial seeds in May to get strong seedlings to plant out the following spring.  This is the first year I actually did it–all of these seeds I planted for the parking strip garden I’m planning.  And the best thing is that virtually every type of seed has come up.  You can see one tray above, and there is another similarly fertile tray to match.  There will be much transplanting to do in the coming weeks, but I’m happy to do it–hundreds of plants for a bright new garden!

I really love this plant so far–Malabar spinach (Basella rubra).  It is a climbing substitute for spinach.  I just need to find some space for it to climb.  I’ve got so many vines and brambles up now, most of my vertical options are taken.

The raised bed the brother Tim helped me plant a few weeks ago has finally settled in.  The lettuce and escarole are really starting to grow and the tomatoes have finished sulking.  I put some tomatillos out today next to the tomatoes, but not sure how they will do, since they were very small and already getting flowers.  I’m hoping they aren’t stunted.

Hesperis matronalis catching some early evening light.

The violas that I got at Fred Meyer early in the spring are enjoying to bursts of sunshine mixed with the wet spells.

More baby pansies in pots in the front of the house.

I suspect the lack of water in a very crowded pot resulted in the white geranium having these wispy blooms.  You can see the normal flowers at the very left of the photo.

The plum tree has more than a dozen plums this year–up from four last year.  I’m hopeful that some will get ripe and I’ll be able to taste one before the animals find them.

Another rose photo.

And another.

This beauty is “Olivia”–supreme form and strong, sweet fragrance.

The columnar apple trees have apples this year–not sure if my brush-pollination helped, or if some winged critters did the trick, but we’ll have a few dozen apples if all goes well.

The taller tree has even more flowers…

Blackberry flowers.  The domesticated cultivars may be a bit light on berries this year, but I have a “wild” Himalayan blackberry trained in one of the raised beds, and it has dozens of flower buds–it looks like it will provide all the blackberries I need.

Goumi berries developing on the shrub.  There were a LOT of flowers this year, but I think fewer berries than last year–not sure if it was a pollination issue or what.  The shrub is growing quickly this spring.

Aronia berries are also plumping up.

Another rose bud.

More little pansies.

This sad looking clump of sticks is all that’s left of the scorpion senna that had taken over the brick bed near the Jeff Tangen arbor.  I cut it way back today, which looks really drastic.  It should be a mass of new green growth in a month or so, and it will probably bloom again, too.