Spring flowers in our garden

Rani and I both love beautiful gardens but we are far too lazy to achieve our ambitions. The gardens along the walkway leading to our house and in a few other places are quite pretty just now, so I thought I would capture a few shots before the weeds take over. Please note I have attempted to identify these flowers but may have got a few wrong - corrections are welcome!

The yellow irises were already growing here when we moved in. They are lovely but bloom only for a very short time

 

These phlox were also here when we arrived and surprise us every spring. I think the white flowers are a rock cress (see better picture below)

These cress are very hardy and tolerate dryer areas of our garden. They also spread very quickly

The lupines were lovely when we left for a walk this morning but a deer must have come through and cropped the blossoms today! Looks like it was done with bypass clippers... The lupines were planted from Nova Scotia seeds from my parents' garden and come back every year.

We have three peonies that are all descended from one plant that was here when we moved in. This little one only has one flower and bloomed for the first time last year.

These came from a hanging planter we bought the first year we were here. We were surprised but happy when, after planting them in the late summer, they came back the next year

We planted this rock cress in year one and they survive in our dry sandy soil with infrequent watering

These blue bells are all over the garden and come up under plants we have added, dying away in the late spring

This azalea bush has lovely blooms but has not grown substantially in the 5 years since we planted it - a testament to our gardening abilities

This columbine has pink flowers. The rest of our columbines are purple as opposed to our native ones, which I believe are orange.

Vinca grows well here. A variety of these periwinkles survived 10 years of benign neglect at the cottage.

This sedum has pretty yellow flowers and survives neglect and dry soil. We brought some to the cottage garden, too.

Rani has always wanted her own banana tree. Her mother and sister both have banana trees in their UK houses. This one survived the winter under a bucket with a pile of sawdust around its base. It is just getting started for the year.

This lilac bush dominates the garden outside our back entrance and blocks a good chunk of our washing line. We really need to cut it back this year. We have some blossoms in a vase now and they fill the living room with their lovely thick scent