As it turns out the rains have returned for the last week.  Altogether now we have had 50% more rain than a normal May

Rainfall in May

Since the flowers were getting beaten down by all this rain (which I’m not complaining about mind you — I’m quite happy not to be watering the garden) I decided to focus on the water drops.  I hadn’t previously had the patience to get out my old tripod for long exposures but it does turn out that with the Macro lens you can get some really nice images that invoke the sense of mirrors within mirrors.

Water drops on Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella tenuissima)

I should mention that I’m enjoying all the little things about the Mexican Feather Grass.  I originally added it to my ‘must have’ list from pictures that I saw from Nancy Ogen on Gardens Gone Wild.  We’ve planted two plants in the rock garden, but I’m also growing some additional plants from seed.

Another water drop explosion comes from Allium which catches the drops in so many ways.

Allium Purple Sensation with water drops

Last year I bought three Itoh or Intersectional Hybrid Peonies at our local Nursery for a bargain price.  They established well and last week we got the first flower from ‘Singing in the Rain’

Peony 'Singing in the Rain'

The Itoh Hybrids are a combination of some of the best qualities of the Tree Peonies and the more common herbaceous types.  The foliage is lovely and the flowers don’t droop as much as the herbaceous forms.  I have noticed that the leaves are showing what seems to be powdery mildew.  This surprised me as we generally only see this with phlox.  I’m looking forward to the very popular yellow cultivar ‘Bartzella’ flowering next year.  

I’ve been having fun looking at some of the small wildflowers that are appearing all around us.

Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)

We have planted Blue-eyed grass for the last few years without paying attention to what cultivar or species we put in.  Each year they haven’t returned even though they were nominally hardy.  Now I notice that the pasture has lots of Blue-eyed Grass which grows without my help at all.  Although the flowers aren’t the brilliant blue that we have been planting they are still quite nice.

Blue-eyed Grass

Another small flower that shows up in the pasture is some kind of small Geranium I think, though it doesn’t quite match with any description I’ve found yet.

Small Geranium

One cute little wildflower that showed up in the wildflower seedings from last year (Wildseed Farms) is Toadflax

Toadflax (Linaria marrocana)

Ideally I would find a new flower every time I take a walk about the property, but there is also a great deal of satisfaction in looking more closely at flowers that are so familiar they almost get passed by.  Red Clover is one of those that is worth paying attention to.  It’s the State Flower for Vermont and can be found in pastures around the country, fixes nitrogen like other clovers, and it is oh so pretty.

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)