A while ago we dug out most of the lilies in the bed by the front door. These weren’t my favorite, although they briefly provided a nice show last July.

In October we planted rhododendrons and a western mock orange, Philadelphus lewisii, in the bed, leaving the hyacinths and a few lilies for the front edge. In the last month, the variegated President Roosevelt rhodie and two small-leaf Dora Amateis have been outstanding. Showing restraint in planting the bed for the plants’ mature size was challenging. Although currently it’s sparse, we’ve allowed room for great growth.

While I was back east, before Hubby joined me he painted our front door. We’d been wanting to change the bright white door and had selected a classic deep green paint infused with black. In certain light, the paint has a grey cast and in others it looks true green.

I’m loving the pale pink clematis at the entry.

Although I didn’t make much effort with the potted plants at the front of the house in spring since I knew I’d be away, I had put in special “green eyes” daffodils in December in honor of my green-eyed daughter. We had just been asked for our blessing by our new son-in-law who wanted to propose to her. These bulbs were slow to mature and just bloomed while I was in Virginia when other daffodils were long faded. The symbolism!