Jane is sharing her northern Illinois garden with us today.

This year the weather has been favorable for my plants to flourish, with periodic rain and warmth despite the windy conditions in northern Illinois.

The show started with lots of bulbs as the garden woke up. You can see the weigela (Weigela florida, Zones 5–9) is still not leafed out in the background.

My flowering almond (Prunus glandulosa, Zones 4–8) was pretty this year. And behind it the weigela is now awake and putting out leaves, though it’s still not in flower yet.

Then came the iris show. These old-fashioned bearded irises (Iris hybrid, bearded group, Zones 3–8) are vigorous and beautiful.

More irises fill out this bed, with the smaller-flowered Siberian irises (Iris siberica, Zones 4–8) joining the beardeds. A clump of salvia (Salvia nemorosa, Zones 4–8) echoes the purple colors of the irises.

Soon the back bed began to fill in with shade plants, including hosta (Hosta hybrids, Zones 4–9), bleeding heart (Digitalis spectabilis, Zones 2–8), astilbe (Astilbe species, Zones 4–9), and Japanese painted ferns (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum, Zones 5–8). And my ‘Sun King’ aralia (Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’, Zones 3–9) takes center stage.

Now the goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus, Zones 4–8) is showing off along our deck. It has grown quite large in the seven years it’s been there.

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