Around the house

Sunday, Rick gave our lawn a much-needed haircut:

See the light specks on the bank beyond the lawn? Those daffodils were here when we bought this place in 1995, and survived the construction of our home in 2002. There are two varieties; I'm pretty sure the one shown below, appropriately, is "Mt. Hood":

At the corner of the house in the above photo is my one pieris japonica bush, which is light on blossoms this year:

At the opposite corner of the house, my wee patch of violets is sporting its first sweet flower:

Out in the island, a cluster of grape hyacinth has burst into bloom:

and the Centaurea montana are budding and beginning to open:

Incredibly, our garden space has been dry enough to be worked up for weeks, but I don't know when Rick will get to that. The urge to grow fresh veggies for our table could not be denied, though, so yesterday I picked up two different varieties of kale and a fernleaf dill to tuck in my herb barrel with the chives and a little oregano that overwintered (yes, our winter was that mild). I guess if we have a long, hot summer, tomatoes should do better than usual here!

That's it for flora for now from . . .