Today in the Garden: Loving the Rain

Don't read this unless you love the way the rain makes the natural world rise up juicily in spring.

Last fall, I put in a new garden bed in my yard.  Three days ago, I put my foot on the working end of a shovel and moved a lot of heavy clay soil from this new bed to make way for a dozen or more  perennials, transplanted from the old bed of which this new one is an extension.

OK?

I used a lot of fresh compost in those transplant holes, then watered the fresh transplants deeply.

Then came the rains, and look how the new garden uses them.

This heuchera and lamium, instead of drooping over in shock, as might be expected after a transplant, are rising up green and juicy after the rain.

Take a closer look at the leaves of this heuchera.  Wow.

 Here's the bigger picture, with the new transplants in the foreground and the older garden, from which they were taken, in the background:

Meanwhile, just across the yard, in a study of whites and greens, St. Francis hangs out with the hanging white blooms of Solomon's Seal, polygonatum:

All the plants that love cool temperatures and lots of moisture are loving this rain.

Like this Brunnera Jack Frost

And this dicentra eximia

Elsewhere, everything is thriving.

Like this ajuga burgundy glow, putting out a show of purple flowers this spring

And this shade-loving hosta sieboldiana elegans, with the blue flowers of Spanish bluebells, hyacinthoides hispanica, peeking through its leaves

And this lovely clump of Spanish bluebells.