Flower Thursday

I've been taking pictures of my flowers the last few weeks meaning to post them here on Fridays and call it Flower Friday. Wouldn't that be cute? Except it NEVER HAPPENS. When I want to post, it's not Friday, so I wait and then Friday comes and I'm like, pff it's Friday, forget that. So, welcome to Flower Thursday. My tulips have been in bloom for the past few weeks. They have been beautiful:

These came from some bulbs I planted last fall: mini tulips!

Sadly a few of the tulips that bloomed first are starting to get raggedy petals, so they are nearing the end of their run for this year, but I have definitely gotten my enjoyment from them. And now that I know that, in addition to letting their leaves stay untouched until they start to die, I should not water them throughout the summer, hopefully I will get even better production next year.

I have a few other plants that are flowering already: vinca vine and these little guys we picked up last year, a spring-flowering daisy called "Little Leo":

In the "producing buds" camp I have columbines and my little azalea. Columbines make such pretty flowers and all of mine look very robust so far.

I've been doing little bits of work around my flower beds the last few weeks, but not a ton because the weather has turned cooler and wetter. I pruned my big arborvitaes and cut the little one way back to get more sun and air to my peonies. These peonies were here when we moved in and they didn't flower until I did my first drastic pruning of the arborvitaes. But the past two years they've gotten powdery mildew and started to become less productive, so I thought they could use a little more room.

Oh, and baby plants. I have them. A florist/nursery nearby runs a perennial sale each Spring where you can get a 4-pack of perennial seedlings for $1.50. They have a large variety of plants available and it is a crazy madhouse of plant people every year. This year I had to park on a side street nearby and almost got into a collision with another crazy minivan-driving gardener while trying to find a spot. I picked up forget-me-nots, sweet peas, Irish moss, primrose and something else I can't remember. I'm excited to plant them, along with the ferns and peonies I got from my awesome friend Yvonne, but first I need some DIRT. My husband and I are considering getting our very own pile of dirt this year. He has serious dirt envy whenever we sees piles sitting in other people's driveways, and so do I if I'm honest with myself. I can never get enough compost or or sand. So here's hoping that we can get that sorted out because I am ready to work!

Until the next Flower Friday Random Day of the Week, I bid you happy gardening or Spring enjoyment or even happy sewing/embroidering because I think that was supposed to be a subject on this blog, too, so we can't forget about that.