Crocuses Blooming

The wild crocuses started blooming on Picnic Hill near our place on Easter weekend. That's always a happy event which announces the arrival of spring for us!  I love the delicate little pale mauve blossoms peeking out of the long dead grass.

This year there seems to be more clusters than usual. There are a few clusters of crocuses blooming behind our house in the uncultivated / unmowed part of the hill.  Apparently wild crocuses will not grow in cultivated ground. I tried digging them up one spring and transplanting them to a flower bed, but they soon died back (which is normal), but didn't re-grow the following spring.

 And the swallows are back!!! Woke up on April 30 to the exciting sound of the tree swallows and, sure enough, they were swooping around the back yard and sitting on the bird houses there, checking out potential nesting sites. Even though spring is about 3 weeks late this year, the swallows are about 5 days early.  :)  I love the arrival of those numerous midnight blue mosquito eradicators!

Also have seen robins on a regular basis around here, one really huge one! I hope they are alert and wary when they search for food because of our cats roaming around the yard. I would truly hate for anything  to happen to them.  The swallows at least do their feeding in the air, away from feline predators.

Have been busily cleaning our flower beds. The one close to the house had a lot of quack grass trying to take over as well as the bell flower campanula. I dug out much of the cmpanula to try to keep it under control. There is still quite a bit of grass hiding in between the bearded irises, though, sneaky devils!  I don't want to get too vigorous there right now because it's too easy to accidently yank out the irises along with the long grass roots....  The hollyhocks are coming up nicely and so is one of my clematises and one of my black eyed susans.  I watered that bed, then added a mix of soil and sheep manure to fill in some f the holes left after 'weed' removal...

There were massive amounts of grass roots in the upper rock garden bed as well. I got a big laundry basket full and it's not a very big bed! I also took out most of the white daisies at the step side of that bed. I relocated 2 daisies into the upper far corner of that bed.

 The May Midnight blue sage is growing well. There are 2 huge clumps in that bed, too much for the size of the bed. I see there are also quite a number of baby sage plantlets starting there as well.... Hoping to give some of those away either to a friend or to the perennial swap which usually takes place on the May long weekend.  The creeping phlox is turning green in that bed and the soap wort hopefully will make it's usual late appearance and didn't accidently get dug out along with the quack grass....

In the lower part of the rock garden bed, the fall colored rudbeckia is coming up! I had thought they were annuals, but 'something' told me to leave them when I was cleaning out that bed last fall, just in case and I'm pleased to see them reappear!  I had planted them as a replacement for the Swan River daises and the 'ice flowers' which the little marmot varmint ate down to the ground.  I really loved their burgundy/ dark brownish red color and I look forward to seeing them bloom again this year.  Again, I dug out lots of grass in the lower rock garden bed and also many baby daisies.

Will tackle the big stack stone bed next and have to do a radical daisy eradication there! I did get one request from a friend for some daises, so one or two will find new homes...  So far the rose bushes in that bed don't show any signs of life.

My partner in crime cleaned out the pond and filled it with clean water. (What a job sweeping the algae buildup off the sides!) Then he set up the filter system. Soon now the housebound goldfish will be going out into their summer home.

Goldfish in the pond last year