Looking west through the japanese maple. The hostas are Silver Thread and Golden Needs, Stitch in Time, Allegan Fog, Ghost Dancer and Dream Weaver.

Looking east in the Secret Garden. The hosts are Great Expectations, Dream Weaver, June, Francee, and Krossa Royal.

Sweet little columbine by my back door.

Another view looking west, this time at the Garden Lady. The tree in the foreground is a Kousa Dogwood.

Blue Winky columbine.

I know, too many cat pictures on this garden blog. But Callie is 14 and she loves gardening with me. Here she is trying out one of the new chairs in the little gathering area in the Secret Garden.

Looking west. I love the braid down Garden Lady’s back.

One of the baskets I bought at Motman’s this year.

Looking east in the Secret Garden.

Our warm weather has urged the garden into mosaics of green spires of day lily foliage, scalloped and beaded lady’s mantle capes, and hosta caves for Callie to doze the day away. And now the promise of winding brick paths against the backdrop of late spring is here.  I love the pathway that my friend Maja put in last fall.

I spent a lovely Memorial Day shopping for plants with a friend.  This has become a tradition.  In fact, long before I moved to Grand Rapids, she and I would drive to Motman’s in Allendale and fill my car with plants and baskets.  Now that I live closer to Allendale, she drives to my house and we then launch ourselves west to Countryside and Motman’s and any other place that draws us in.  It becomes a special day of catching up, comparing aches and pains, and marveling at how old we’ve gotten.  Neither one of us can quite understand how we could possibly be the senior citizens that we’ve become.

I haven’t planted everything I bought, but I will within the next few days.  In the meantime, everything is clumped together in a spot where the sprinkler system will keep it watered and in great shape until I can get everything in the ground.

The shredded bark went in this week and I love how it makes the beds pop.  The pathways that now wind past the barked beds provide a great boundary between the plants and the paths.  The crushed limestone did what it needed to for a long time, but they were getting tired and difficult to maintain.  The bricks make it look like the garden has always been part of the house. And, they make me look like a better gardener than I am.