You have an eye PM2!

I too love Sutherland Gold. I worry that the flooding will carry it away each spring, but it is still there! Not huge though.

Your butterfly bush is ahead of mine. I look forward to it blooming...but that will be a long wait.

Lots of hope there in your buds and leaves unfurling!

Just a quick skim, PM2, of your yahd's bounty. I'm likin' it. I am SALATing right now, procrastinating on my latest cleaning goal.

PM2 -- If this is the start, I can't wait to see the progress!

Martie

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!!! I'm so jealous of your Sutherland Gold. Alas mine is in that big Sambucus graveyard in the sky. It was glorious last spring at this time and bloomed its heart out and then it just died off right to the ground. Boohoo... (It then shot up another lovely growth and then that died too.)

No sun here today either. Can't wait until we get some more lovely weather.

Thanks for sharing!
Deanne

Great shots pm2. I like the sunny atmosphere of them. I tend to take pics on overcast days. You remind me I want to move my Iris pallida. Is that bed on a slope? Gardening on a slope is pretty challenging here. I tend to lose my mulch and soil during heavy rains. And it is hard to balance the plantings sometimes.
Norma

Beautiful spring in your yard. I love your photos, there's so much detail in them. Are those irises invasive? Or am I thinking of something else? Great start on your trillium. I love them, too. I have tons growing wild in my beds. Thanks for sharing.

Gardenbug and Deanne...I don't know what to think of this Sambucus. It is lovely, but hasn't been as vigorous for me as I expected either. Some of my branches started dying back last year for no apparent reason. I just trimmed them off and keeping my fingers crossed.

Norma...I take a lot of photos on overcast days too..lol. I like sunny photos at certain times of day. High noon is too bright and everything looks washed out. Early or late seems to do the best for me. The Iris pallida I have is in a slightly raised bed for better drainage. Not really a slope, no. Yes, I imagine it is hard to keep the mulch in place on a slope. Maybe a little terracing might help? I tend to make large moats around plants on a slope with the downhill side higher. I thought Iris enjoy really good drainage though? I would think a slope would be a good location for them?

Anita, no they aren't invasive. I do have some that were given to me that really spread out quite rapidly, but the Iris pallida has been slow to grow actually.

Thanks chelone and ctlavluvr...trying to enjoy the process while waiting for the results sometimes tries my patience. Looking forward to photos of your works in progress too.

Thanks... :-)

Wow! I've spent so much time this a.m. gazing at all the beautiful pics in all these separate posts, but now I'm late to get ready for work...LOL! Anyway, your gardens are beautiful PM! I think Iris palida may be my favorite gold and green variegated plant and you captured it with a very artistic eye! :-) Love your color schemes...jewel colored tones are my favorite. I agree with Martie...if this is just the start - I can't wait to see more! Thanks for sharing PM!

Ei

Thanks for the lovely tour. I can't wait to see more!

PM, you take beautiful pictures and have a beautiful garden to document! You should give us the whole view!

How far have you gotten into getting the winter sown things in the ground? Is it still too early?

Saucy

Sambucus in general tends to lose branches and stems as it grows. It is a difficult plant in a way because you think you know just how big it is and what it is doing when WHAM, several major branches go and it looks small and entirely different again...At least that's how it works for me.

Thank you Ei... I do love that Iris palida too and the flowers aren' t bad either. I can't wait to see a nice spring photo thread from you. :-)

Michelle...thanks for taking the tour, brief as it was. Hope to have a tour of your garden soon, too. :-)

Saucy....thanks, I really just aim and shoot on automatic. I still barely know how to work the rest of the buttons..lol. I've had a digital camera for a year and I am still amazed at the level of technology on these new cameras. I try to take a lot of shots and some are them are bound to come out well. We had a really well screened yard up until 5 years ago, but the shrub border was neglected and we have maples all around us and the border was full of saplings. So we ripped everything out and started over, trying to add more natives. On a budget, that means small shrubs and the neighbors' yards are not such thrilling views that we will be living with for awhile longer while waiting for some height on the new shrubs. Saucy, I have a friend in z5 who is only in the next town over and she had snow on the ground a full three weeks longer than I did and her ws sprouts were about that far behind me. I have already started planting out. Have lupine and Ammi and dianthus already in. I would put the rest in now if I had the chance, but I will probably get them in a little at a time over the next five weeks I imagine.

Gardenbug...that is too bad about the Sambucus. Last spring, every morning I would make a bee line for that shrub because I enjoyed it so much. Photos just don't do it justice. The color and texture of the bark, the changing colors on the foliage and the developing blooms, the graceful shape of the branch structure. Really enjoyable. I wonder how it responds to being cut back to the ground when it starts having problems. I also bought the Black Beauty last year and didn't find that very vigorous either, so I moved it this spring. It is odd because from everything I have read the native elderberries are supposed to be very vigorous.

pm2

PM, I think they are vigorous but just have lots of major dead wood each year...even when they are 10 feet tall. So that makes them a bit of a chore to tidy up. But the pale pink blooms on some of the dark leafed forms are a gorgeous combination! I like to think that just one zone warmer would make the difference, but obviously your experience and Deanne's is proof that I am dreaming.

PM2, beautiful photos! I'd like to see some long shots of your garden sometime. I just posted about my sambucus experiences over on the Idyll thread. Yours is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing with us! Very nice!

Eden

Love your photos PM--I have always lusted over Sambucus, and it is on the short list for the new garden in Oregon..numerous varities I might add ! I have never had the room for it here in my small garden.

Kathy in Napa