Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt'

Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt'

Friday, May 1, 2015

Happy May Day!

Happy May Day Gardening Friends!

I love all the seasons and all the weather we are blessed with in Portland. However, I am super grateful for the warm spring we are having this year. I am celebrating Mother Nature's abundance on today's May Day/Beltaine. May Day is an ancient spring celebration and most are familiar with the tradition of dancing around a may pole. Beltaine is an ancient fertility festival with Celtic roots held on May 1st, in between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. Wear green on May Day to celebrate nature.



As I walk through my garden I am delighted by elegant velvety bearded iris, orange and red azaleas, red rhododendron, fat purple spanish lavender blossoms, lady and sword ferns unfurling their new fronds, a carpet of fragrant wisteria blossoms littering the path. Native dicentra formosa has sprouted up tiny pink blossoms in every untended patch of the garden. Our beautiful magenta clematis just opened her very first blossom of the year. As the white and pink bleeding heart blossoms fade and drop they are replaced by the fat peony buds so close to bursting open. Our flowering dogwood tree is covered in creamy flowers. Dahlia sprouts spring from the warm soil pushing up their hopeful heads to the sun. Seeds for carrots, radishes, scallions, mesclun mix, runner beans, morning glory, sunflower and amaranth have sprouted. Everywhere I look in the garden it is a sea of green, so full of spring's lush leafy promise.



Butterflies dance, bees buzz and birds flutter in and out, splashing in the bird bath. I am celebrating spring. What better place to celebrate May Day than your own abundant garden? I honor Mother Nature in all of her aspects, and today in her fertile spring self. Enjoy the season friends!

Happy Gardening, Jolie

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