Bloomin' Tuesday

The shades of lush green outside are really something this summer... it's like all the late spring snow and waiting for warm weather has just made the plants and trees explode with growth the last week.  As I type this post I am once again enjoying one of my favorite scents.

The late blooming lilacs are showing off and this is the view from our master bedroom south window.  Let's just say this window is only closed during rain showers because it is so delightful to fall asleep, wake up and browse BlogLand with wafts of lilac breezing in. Not to mention my new quilting room gets the same effect downstairs. I feel like Tucker sniffing the air all the time!

Miss Kim is a compact variety of lilac and is slow growing here in northern Minnesota so she is finally hitting her glory years I'd say. Not only beautiful, it also has the most intense scent of the ones I have planted. She is a winner on all counts!

I don't know the name of this one, but I like the long delicate blossoms and the pinkish tone of the flowers.

This beautiful yellow butterfly evidently agrees with me!

Opposite of the lilac "grove" this weigela shrub is in full bloom and has sent a few branches into my view as I'm working at my cutting table.

My front yard garden has nepeta and a geranium (bottom left corner) blooming at the moment. Nepeta's common name is catmint. A few years ago when Simon was still with us I had the cats out with me while I was cutting this garden back in the fall. Both cats spent the entire time laying on top of the trimmed nepeta stalks like it was their lilac.

See what I mean about GREEN!

My azaleas were blooming last week but I didn't get them into a post so I'll add them in today. First, this baby one that I'm thinking I'll have to move to a sunnier spot. We are surrounded by trees which I love but that means that full sun time is prime real estate for my plants and shrubs.

And this one on the south-east side of our foundation which is obviously in a happier place!

Last on today's tour is my bridal leaf spirea... which sadly is beloved by our deer population and gets decimated each spring no matter why I do to try and deter them! I might try wrapping it in chicken wire after I trim it back in the fall because I just love them and would like to have a full plant just once.

In quilting news I'm working as I posted yesterday to get my Q2 remaining UFOs to flimsy stage as a minimum. This is my Minnesota Hotdish top by Atkinson Designs laid out on my family room floor so I can adjust the piano key borders. The quilt has cornerstones that are the same fabric as the inner border.

And, I got my IKEA Bygel bars hung yesterday on one end of my cutting table but found I need bigger S hooks to fit my rulers so for now I've the tools that were in reach stored there. I like it!

I'm linking up to Freemotion by the River and getting back to work... enjoy your Tuesday everyone!