Still not quite right.

Green on White Jade Tower..., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

Green on White Jade Tower, our second tree peony, started its bloom today. Actually, it was the first one we bought! The flowers are supposed to be crown-shaped, but because it's still an immature plant it's not blooming quite right. That's not uncommon with tree peonies, believe it or not!

The first year it bloomed, it did have the proper crown-shaped flowers. I wonder if it had still had some flower buds from the main shrub?

The Rockii Peony.

More Blue Butterfly., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

I know I already posted Blue Butterfly! I think this picture better shows off the lovely dark center markings you find in rockii peonies. It reminds me of a poppy.

I love rockii peonies best of all. They're hardier than the other tree peonies, and have especially huge flowers.

Toiling in the fields.

It appears that when I'm not addicted to a video game, I'm capable of doing great and terrifying things.

Well, not really. But I am more productive. XD

Last night I went out with a rake and a clippers and attempted to rid my front and back gardens of maple saplings and the cursed multiflora rose. Apparently, I have three young maple trees growing under my deck. My back garden features the lovely peonies Paula Fay, Coral Supreme and Bowl of Beauty as well as the white forsythia (no longer blooming) and clematis Comtesse de Bouchaud (hasn't bloomed yet). Unfortunately, it's also completely overrrun with crabgrass, artemisia we received as a donation (I hate that stuff) and the purple columbine that won't quit. It's a frequent dumping ground for neighborhood cats too, if you know what I mean. I used to have a big patch of thyme there that was indispensable for cooking...until a mean tabby peed on it multiple times until it died. Since we managed to get Coral Supreme properly staked this spring--it is a five-foot-tall monster--I really wanted to whip the garden into shape. I ripped out the crabgrass and cut out most of the maple saplings. I think it looks all right now...but we unfortunately have this huge barberry growing in the back that has gigantic thorns. And me with no garden gloves...I spiked myself in the thumb last night trying to remove a piece. I told myself, "I need this thumb!" and gave up after that.

I was kind of terrified to be clearing out all that brush. It was so overgrown, I half-expected to find a dead body in there. XD

The Weird Poppy seedlings I sowed in the side garden have their second set of leaves now. O_o Isn't that interesting? ;_;... I hope this week's heavy rains don't drown them. I really screwed up this year with the poppies. I guess the birds have better things to do than tear them up...most of the birds we have in our yard eat bugs, not seeds, anyway.

We have a bearded iris ready to bloom in the front yard. I barely remember planting it. It's going to be blue-violet, it seems. Don't ask me why I planted a tall bearded iris in front of our window box. I've made some bad gardening choices in my day, and they all involve planting tall plants in the front of borders!

On the other-than-gardening front, I finally managed to finish rerooting my Bluebird's Song III Miu. She's now officially a blonde! Well...more like apricot-blonde. I still need to style her hair. She's going to be a curly girl. XD

Next doll up is second Mia. I'm going to reroot her with Snow White hair and style it curly too, like Angelic Sigh II Lien's hair. There's something intriguing about white hair and green eyes...