Random pictures from the Spring garden

First are the Aronia berry bushes in bloom. We planted these last year and got about five berries from three bushes. Well, actually, the pups got them! This year the Aronias are literally covered with blossoms. And they are all on the upper parts of the bushes, so unless the dogs can figure out how to get a footstool out there (mind you, I'm not discounting that possibility entirely - they can be very clever about getting things they want) then we should actually get to taste some Aronia berries this year.



This is a closeup picture of a strawberry blossom. If you look closely, you will see that I am probably going to have some competition for the ripe fruit later - more competition than usual, anyway. (The dogs have also developed a taste for our ripe strawberries.)



We have a medium size backyard pond that we put in ourselves over the past two years. This is a picture of some of the ground cover that's creeping around the rocks on the edges of the pond. The stuff on the right is a variegated sedum, and the stuff on the left is a variegated creeping thyme. The stuff in the middle, of course, is a rock. ;-)



This is a wider angle view of part of the pond. It has three "tiers" - each of which is a pond and which feeds into the next lower pond via a waterfall. The final waterfall into the largest of the three ponds is shown here, along with some of the irises we've planted alongside.



This is what we call our "Rose Tree." It's a lovely crabapple with the clearest double pink blossoms that just blooms like crazy every spring. The blossoms smell just like tea roses, and perfume the whole yard while they are in bloom. I just wish the hard little green crabapples could be used for something besides compost!



And, that's it for now. I'm so happy it is spring, aren't you?