It's Wednesday and What's Outside My Kitchen Window?

How does that song go?

"What a difference a day makes
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain..."

Okay, it's been longer than 24 hours. In fact, it's been a week. And, although it is still raining off and on and has been since last Sunday, it's all good. My backyard loves it, as you are about to see.

Remember the pergola last week? A few flowers on the wisteria and little yellow-green leaves just starting to bud. Look at it now...




The wisteria is off and running and we will have to keep on top of it weekly to keep it in tow.

And, remember the yellow roses last week? Well...



They need a good trim so they can continue blooming. But my other roses are in full bloom.

The red ones...



...the orange ones...



...and the pink ones.



But no sign of flowers yet on my day lilies planted next to the patio, but it's early...



The trees around the bird and squirrel feeders are fully green...



Tom's Arapaho blackberries in the back corner of the yard are blooming profusely and we are going to have tons to eat come late June and July...



...and behind them is the wild honeysuckle growing up over the fence. It is in full bloom and will remain like that until almost the end of May. Their wonderful fragrance is my favorite of all the plants...



The lily pads in the pond are doing well, but no flowers yet...



...but last Friday afternoon I did a little gardening around the pond. I planted mandevilla in the pots at each side of the bench. One pot also has petunias, the other pot also has daisies...



In the pot on the opposite side of the pond where my now-defunked tarragon refused to emerge, I planted two kinds of sweet potato vines and, if you look really closely you can see little tiny green sprouts where I planted a flower mix which includes Ornamental Poppies!!! (Thank you for reminding me, Karen!!)...



I know what your thinking. How can all those plants grow in that little pot? Well, I am of the thought that plants love other plants. Look how plants grow in the wild. They grow all together, next to each other, through each other, around each other, over and under each other. And, what survives...well, survives.

Finally, the garden. It's doing well, except that I did have a basil casualty. One of the basil plants just shriveled up and died. I thought it was because of the incident with our 70 lb. golden retriever, but when I dug it up to replace it, the plant no longer had any roots...but there were two very fat grubs underneath, which...sadly...died immediately a gruesome death. Everyone say, Awwwww. But, so far so good with everything else...



However, I am not one to leave things to chance. So, just to be safe, I planted more basil in a pot on the patio, but, unable to reign in my OCD, I took it two more times around the dance floor and not only planted Italian basil, but Thai basil and spicy globe basil. And, Lord stop me before I get too carried away, I planted another pot, already growing a flowering thyme, with yet more herbs, a Texas tarragon and feather leaf dill...



And, last but not least, my beautiful chives. This is their third year and in mid-March they looked like this...



Now they look like this...



Go ahead. You can say it. You are coveting my chives. I know. It's okay.

Don't forget to visit Debbie @ The Friday Friends, who originated "What's Outside My Kitchen Window."