I took the above photo of "Rose Cottage" yesterday. Our front yard has finally filled in bare spots from where there was a huge island of big pine trees when we bought the house four years ago. Last year there was just a small bald spot remaining, but it's nice and green now. Hurray! When we moved in, there was a very definite line between our neighbor's beautiful yard and ours, but now when they're both mowed you really can't tell anymore. Ours does have more weeds (noticible when the grass is in need of mowing!) but since ours is a do-it-yourself deal and she has a lawn service, we're pretty tickled to have ours looking as good as it does; we can deal with weeds later! 
Here's one of my first roses of the year; they are not in full bloom yet, so Rose Cottage isn't as rosy as it will be later this summer! We've had so many rainy days lately that I haven't had much chance to work in the garden, but I still can't bring myself to complain about the rain since we've been in such a drought for so long! I think my plants and trees will grow by leaps and bounds if this rain keeps up through the summer. Anything that has survived must be fairly strong by now because we've had watering bans for the last few years; if the plants got even a little drizzle of water once a week or so, they were glad for it. Our one little ol' rain barrel just couldn't water everything, especially when there wasn't much rain to refill it. So far, however, this year has been very wet, which is a very good thing! This is our path (I like that better than "sidewalk") from the driveway to the front door; some of the plants spill over their boundaries, but I actually like that. Makes it feel less concrete sidewalkish and more cottage-path-like.
Hidden among all of this is one of my favorite flowers, a columbine, which means "dovelike." 
Our lavender is doing it's part to attract bees and keep them happy.
I am w-a-y behind in weeding, and we didn't add all the compost I wanted to at the beginning of spring. We've transplanted a few things, and they are all doing well, even the rose I thought I'd killed. We've also planted a few new things in the flower garden, including purple balloon flowers, purple phlox, vinca, and a few lantana. I love the purple lantana, and so do the butterflies; it's one of the few annuals we go to the trouble of planting. We also planted a pink and yellow lantana near our dearly departed dog Ellie's grave because she loved chasing butterflies.These balloon flowers are fascinating. Kathryn and I spent a few minutes studying them yesterday, but I'd like to do a full study on them. The ones that are soon-to-bloom look like balloons, thus the name. {grin}
Ken wrestled our birdbath and finally got it level. That was surprisingly hard, because the dirt kept settling oddly. Everything is getting so big in the birdbath garden that I'll be dividing some of it--especially the sedum and the purple irises--and eventually expanding this bed. I have a grand plan of more shrubs and flowers and less grass, but it's a gradually process! What I call the "birdbath bed" is full of purple irises, sedum, a huge bee balm, my small lilac, a miniature yellow rose, a pinkish-purple mum, candytuft, a purple phlox, lavender, a peony that bloomed for the first time this year, and a few other plants. The only thing that was here originally was the dogwood tree; everything else--as is the case in all of our gardens--has been planted within the past three years. 
They're done blooming now, but these are one of my varieties of irises. I also have a solid deep purple that I love. Both varieties will need to be divided this year, so I'll spread them out, plant some in other areas of our gardens, and give some away.
We actually have peaches this year. Small, but peaches nonetheless. This is The Peach State, after all, so I am not a true Georgia gardener without at least one peach tree! Our apple trees bloomed nicely but I can't remember when I should start seeing little apples (because I haven't yet). Can you see the cute little peach in this photo?
Ken and Kathryn made another square for our raised veggie garden. We use cedar because it doesn't rot, and doesn't have all the scary chemicals like pressure treated wood. This year we've planted jalapeno and cayenne peppers (Ken loves peppers!), melon (my first time growing them), and cucumbers. I've got a big tomato in a pot in the big flower bed out front, and a cherry tomato all lonesome in our new garden square. 
We bought three yellow tomato plants (my fave!) but with all the porch building and everything else going on, I just didn't get them planted soon enough and they died. I hope to have time soon to run up to our local nursery and see if they have any more. Yellow tomatoes have a wonderful flavor, but less acid, so I can eat them without getting the mouth ulcers that regular tomatoes give me. I also let Kathryn's strawberry plant die, so I hope to get another one of those, too. After we've enlarged the fenced area of our backyard, perhaps later this year, we plan to have two more garden boxes to give us plenty of space for planting next year's garden.I have so many other plants and flowers I could share but this is a photo-overloaded post, so I'll save them for another time.
