Plant Progress

 My plants are making beautiful progress.   Below are photos of some of them.  First up is the strawberry "birthday cake" raised bed that my husband made for me.  I planted old garlic bulbs in here as well.  Hopefully that will keep the dear from munching on them.

Bleeding heart plant that I got free with my "points" at a locally owned greenhouse last year:

This iris really took off.  I just transplanted it last year.

I'm expecting the poppies to bloom this week.  The hollyhock in the bottom of this photo came up in this spot this year.  The short little plant that is really thick is rose campion.  It came up in a different spot as well.  I love that stuff.  I'm moving it to other areas on the property.  It seems to be deer resistant.

I love it that these are starting to spread and come up in different places.  They might be corabells or Columbine?

The pink one below is pink Columbine with that terrible viny weed growing on it.  Gotta keep at those vines or they take over everything.  Notice the fence...  These plants are in a protected dog kennel in the chicken yard.  Otherwise they would be part of the all-you-can-eat buffet for the chickens.  I don't remember the name for the purple things.  I asked my friend for "purple things" meaning bellflowers and she gave me one of these.

These are the purple things I really wanted.  I think they are bellflowers.  I LOVE them.  I keep moving them all over our property--ditches, by telephone poles, other beds, by sheds, around the house... They spread fast and seem to choke out most of the weeds.  I'll definitely get a photo when they bloom for you.

The little blue flowers are forget-me-nots.  They were once just dried stems and seeds that my friend grabbed out of her flowerbed and threw into a Wendy's paper bag.

Simple buttercups, Verbina, and a lot of weeds that will be addressed Memorial Day weekend.  That's the deer-resistant rose campion in the bottom of this photo.  This one blooms bright pink.

My last day of school is May 29.  I'll have plenty of time to work on my flowers.  This year I am taking the full summer (until August 20) off!!!!!!!  There will also be some of this:

The pool boy opened the pool on Sunday, May 16.  I did't get a pic of it with the top off.  The water under the top was very clear.  He carefully pulled off the cover to get the leaves that gathered in it over winter.

Let's give a hand to the pool boy.  He seems to love the science experiment of making sure the chemicals are right in the pool more than swimming in it.  My sister-in-law, son and I do most of the pool lounging.