I'm writing this article on the first quiet, sunny morning I've had in quite some time. Most of the greenhouses didn't need any watering due to the poor weather yesterday. Outside, the dust has settled from the busy spring season, perhaps washed away by the last night’s rainstorm.

With company coming for the long weekend, we closed up shop. It seems that before they arrived we needed to complete a few decorative touches to the yard: renovate the front flowerbed, replace the small (rotten) wood porch on the back of the house, add a new hanging basket and planters for the front porch, pull a few weeds and cut the grass. All ready.

I find lots of people do a little redecoration to their yards before company comes. When you live at the nursery, it is pretty easy to do.

For the front flowerbed, I left the well-established campanula “Superba” at the rear of the bed and the bulbs in the ground as they pretty well disappear this time of year. The rock edge was left and then all weeds were removed, with the exception of a volunteer poppy about to flower bright red. For the centrepiece, I placed a small shrubby forest pansy redbud with red leaves and early spring flowers of an exotic nature. Just in front and to the right I planted a few concord barberries with dark purple foliage that will look great with the mauve of the soon to flower campanula clumps. There is some silver foliage of artemisia “Silver Mound” in odd numbers in front of the purples and, to fill in the bed, a few peach-coloured ever-blooming daylilies, a few Japanese blood grass and one “Purple Palace” heuchera (coral bells). For a punch of instant colour to complement the poppy, I put in two or three dark red landscape geraniums. Add some sterilized “topsoil” as mulch for weed control and presto!

In flower around town: People are inquiring about the large mauve shrub on the hill above Paul's Superette, one alternate leaf buddeleia, which is very fragrant. The problem with this plant other than its size is that for me it dies out in the pot over winter. That is to say, for it to end up in your garden, I have to be able to grow it for several years before sale. It doesn't seem to work and due to its old-fashioned nature (modern plant releases all seem of a more compact nature to fit the modern suburban yard) it isn't being grown by anybody I know in the nursery trade. For now it is unavailable.

There may be a few of the real tulip trees in flower now. They are large trees, taking perhaps a dozen years to flower for the first time. They have large cream and orange flowers similar to a tulip.

In the nursery, the lavenders and roses are all in flower. The weigelas are looking good. The variegated one by the nursery building front door is completely pink, but around town you will see some bright reds as well.

Well, enjoy the sun while you can as it seems to be in short supply this year.

Evan and Wendy Davies own Beltane Nursery at 2915 Highway 3 in Erickson.