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Looking back at blog posts, it seems that I’m extremely traditional in doing yard work every Memorial Day weekend. Some years it’s been the first I can get out in the yard, but this year it felt very late due to our warm May weather. Indiana is still a few weeks ahead of us, but it seems more like late June than the very end of May for most of the plants in the area. Brian captured some highlights of the backyard in these photos.

It’s the season of purple in our yard! The herbal sage version of salvia is blooming its light lavender:

Meanwhile the volunteer violas are thriving in the same bed.

The bleeding hearts are fading but put in the perfect sized show this year – notable but not dominating.

And, we have a few new red entries this year. The strawberry patch I planted last year is bearing its first fruit.

I was pretty worried mid-May when the first sets of berries were viciously stolen by the resident backyard squirrel. I was even more worried when the best advice for preserving future berries seemed to be having Beej sit on the back porch swing with a shotgun, ready to send the squirrel to his demise. Luckily the squirrel seems to have ADD and only grabbed the first few and one half-eaten red strawberry since we’ve diligently been checking for new ripening berries every day.

The other happy surprise is red poppies! I planted three red poppies with the other perennials a few years back. One managed to survive, but has never bloomed… until this year.

And in fact, it has two blooms! I hope it will thrive and spread though I might have to give it a bit more room between the lamb’s ear that’s thriving, the lilac that’s putting on a lot of growth this year and the grass from the yard that continues to encroach on the flower bed.

The roses are harder to capture in photos because I’ve finally succeeded in training them onto the privacy fence. My hope was that we could share enjoyment of our blooms with the elder daycare center next door. It may take a bit of extra work to keep the church side of the yard clear, but so far the roses look very promising (albeit wild) in their foliage and blooms.