Peppermint Clematis

I found another old friend blooming in the garden, my Peppermint Clematis. Every time the flowers start to come out it always surprises me. Not because it is blooming, but because of how unique the flowers are. Watching the flowers transform from tightly wrapped four pointed stars into big greenish-white puffballs is always a fascinating time.

We baked chocolate chip cookies today to celebrate Chocolate Chip Cookie day, which coincidentally is my daughter's favorite cookie. Baking with her is always fun because she spends most of her time tasting and smelling of the ingredients. She likes to feel of the egg yolk and sample the brown sugar, and off course the chocolate chips. We use this recipe from King Arthur Flour: Basic Drop Cookies.

Wood Lily

Every year when my wood lily blooms, it is always a surprise. I forget that it is planted there, because it disappears shortly after it blooms, and doesn't look that different from the phlox that it is next to. It is a vibrant, beautiful splash of color in the otherwise muted pastels that make up my front garden bed.

Confederate Jasmine

I have wanted a jasmine vine for years. The smell of them takes me back to San Diego, where I smelled them everywhere. After the untimely death of my new clematis vine that I planted last fall, I needed a replacement climber. Since I didn't want to rush into a decision, I started thinking of annual vines that I could plant, and then put in a permanent resident this fall. We were at the nursery on Mother's Day, and I followed my nose to find this beautiful jasmine vine. And wondered why in the world I hadn't just bought a plant and replaced it every year. Okay, it goes against my nature of not wanting to spend money on disposable things, but for the price of a lunch out I can smell the lovely jasmine all summer long. And since my back garden is protected, it just might have a chance of overwintering. And if it doesn't I'll get a new one, but I don't want a garden that is empty of jasmine again.