Fat Buds

 As I do my daily tour of the garden, I am thrilled to see not only the plants that have burst into bloom but the ones with the fat buds. I love the anticipation, the suspense of waiting for them to open! It is much like the feeling a person gets just before Christmas when you know it's almost here and that you will soon get to open those presents stashed so lovingly under the tree....

What has fat buds and is about to bloom in my flower beds?
The peony closest to the house has HUGE buds!
Two of my four rose bushes, the Morden Centennial and Morden Blush!
The delphiniums
The dark purple lupines
The aconitum (Monkshood)
The lavatara annuals  (I love their pink cup-shaped blossoms!)

The pink sage and the white sage has started to bloom (the blue sages have been blooming for 3 weeks already!)  The pink perennial baby's breath has tiny buds and several of them have popped open to reveal miniature pink flowers.
The marmot continues to nibble on the gazanias in my rock garden, but so far leaves the ones in the lower flower beds alone.  I sprayed the Green Earth Animal repellent on them ( and on  many other flowers) in the hopes that it will deter the little 'So-and-so'!  Not sure if rain takes away the effect or not. Should check that out online, I guess....

What is trying to dominate:
The white shasta daisies, of course!  They are everywhere! They are quite beautiful but they have been spreading out and starting to shade the plants around them more and more. I have been cutting stalks of white daisy flowers regulary and filling up vases in the house, but it is time to get ruthless.

(My husband actually laughed when I said that to him... ("It's time for me to get ruthless with the daisies!"I said.)
"You?" he replied.

He knows me quite well and knows that I try to find a new home for most of the plants I dig out even if it's a shady location among the trees in the ravine next to our house. He knows that I scoop insects out of the dog water dish when I see them helplessly flailing about.  Well, I think every little act of kindness and thoughtfulness helps create a better world.  I even rescue the wasps and give them a second chance if they mistakenly find their way into our kitchen and I see them rattling against the window panes trying to escape...  My theory is that any thing I rescue is not going to come back to sting me or do any harm in my garden. I believe that 'what goes around, comes around', for the most part anyway...

So now maybe you have a better understand of why my husband laughed at that statement.
But I meant it in all seriousness and I usually follow through on whatever I commit to!

Besides, the daisies are making it difficult for my saponica (soap wart) to grow, (did I mention it has little pink flowers on it now, too?) as well as shading the roses, the nibbled gazanias and the pansies. (Did I mention they were blooming) And soon the daisies will be going to seed! Then if even merely 1 /100th of the daisy seeds grow, I am in BIG trouble next year, so removing more daisies is an absolute necessity and has to be done soon.

And THAT is no laughing matter.