Let the gardening commence

Calvin and I were sick all week with a terrible cold that knocked us flat. Lots of reading, lots of couch time, and we skipped out on all our outside activities, but summer had come again (still early this time, though not as early as when it was here two months ago) and the sunshine called us outside on Friday. The periodic unseasonal warmth has brought blooms much earlier, and weeds as well. Mostly gigantic weeds, in fact, but the chilly, gray weather, more characteristic of these months, and then this abhorrent cold, have kept me from keeping them under control. The gardens in the back were a sight to behold by this weekend, so that's where we spent the last three days, with sprinklers, shovels, gloves, and every ounce of energy we could muster. Calvin included. And the garden spent the weekend thanking us in the form of emerging blooms and returning creatures.

Iris in the front yard (after the sprinkler)

Toad in the front garden.

Poppy bud in the front garden.

Lazy hummingbird is sitting on the feeder to eat.

Blue flag iris in the back garden.

Bumble in the false indigo.

Fleabane? In the butterfly garden.

The first monarch ever in our butterfly garden!

Summer yarrow (which shouldn't be blooming yet) in the butterfly garden.

Oriole on the feeder out front (he's shy, so that's the best picture I've gotten yet)

And because I like before and after shots, here is a shot of the butterfly garden on Friday before the weeekend weeding, and then on Sunday when we were all done. It is still a work in progress, and there is a lot of space to fill in with beautiful Michigan wild-type flowers, but taking it one year at a time, we've come a long way.