How Does Your Garden Grow?

I've been taking stock of plants that have and have not decided to return to my garden this year. Check one and check two for the clematis (clematises, clematii?) I planted last year:

I cannot understand why two of the same plant would fare so differently. They were nearly identical when I planted them but "lefty" is much more well off than "righty":

There is a squirrel nest in my Ash tree. That stupid squirrel and his/her stupid friends dig holes all over my garden beds and uproot new plants. They taste-test bulbs and tomatoes, but never finish anything. And worst of all, like the rabbits, they destroy the pretty flowers!

This was my first bearded iris... I bought a "mystery box" of irises, daffodils and tulips on eBay two Falls ago. My first iris finally bloomed on Sunday. I went out yesterday to take a picture, but this is what I found.

There would have been four flowers! Dang squirrel took a bite out of one of the buds and just left the remnants on the stairs. Bastard.

Early May:




This is the backyard before cleaning up for the spring. Hard to tell anything is growing here.



After cleaning and now you can see the hostas coming up and other various plants.




This is the front yard. I won't be doing much planting till after I get the house painted around the first of June. Then I plan on putting up the window boxes and putting in some plants near the sidewalk. It is a very shady front yard, plus the pine tree makes the soil very acidic so choices are more limited.

Late May:

This has been a banner year for the spirea bush. My crabapples, on the other hand, did not really bloom much at all. My neighbor says crabapples bloom well every other year, and last year was certainly a good one. Next year will be the test, I guess.

This was taken just a few days ago. You can see considerable progress from the first photos.