Spring flowers.

We have enjoying some nice mild weather here.  The sun has been out and even when the clouds cover it, it still definitely feels like spring is in the air.  How nice to have some windows open and feel some fresh air inside!  The girls are out on spring break this week and we're off to a nice start to it.

 Tulips around the yard are beginning to bloom.

 The fish are swimming around quite a bit.  I got the pond cleaned out after this picture, it usually requires a few minor cleanings in the spring.

 An unusual Frittilaria.

 Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls'

 White Bleeding Hearts

 Old-fashioned Bleeding Hearts, I have lots of these, I just love them!

 A Frittilaria, the one and only.

 And here's an update on the chicks.  At the top left is Tina, she's the largest, below the yellow one is Chirpy, the little one on the roost in Blossom (she must be the slowest growing chick ever, but otherwise she's fine), the other brown chick is Sunny.  The bigger chicks are getting their feathers, testing out their wings and their personalities are really showing.

If you remember we had originally gotten four.  Well, a friend recommended we go check out a feed store that she had gotten her chicks at.  She thought I would really like the stuff they sold there.   A woman there showed us some chicks and my husband asked my girls and I if we wanted a couple more.

 We said yes!  This is Elke and Inge - Barnevelders.  They are a couple of weeks younger and a couple of the older chicks have been chasing them, so we have divided the brooder with chicken wire so they can eat and rest without being bothered.  A couple of times a day I put them all together when I can watch and make sure they are doing okay.  Once these two are a bit bigger we'll let them all stay together.

 Gracie is totally fascinated with the chicks.  She likes to sit on my lap and watch over the side of the brooder while the chicks hop around.  Today I took each of the four big chicks out to meet her.  Gracie followed Tina all over and neither seemed bothered by the other.

 Tina likes to sit on top of the feeders and when the cover is off she pops her head up to check things out.

I've had some time to garden as well as watch the chicks.  I was able to get the potatoes planted, fertilize the roses, lots of weeding and planted some things by the picket fence.

Hoping everyone is seeing some sun, or at least an end to the cold weather soon!

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Buds, Bald Eagles and buddies.

We are nearing the end of the kids Spring Break from school.  So far our weather has been anything but spring like.  Yesterday alone we had sun, rain, hailstorms, thunder, lightening and then snow.  It's still been close to 10 degrees below normal.  Finally today we had a break in the rain, although very cold, I still wanted to see what the garden was looking like after all this crazy weather.  I was really happy to see that despite the weather the garden is still moving right along, a bit behind, but it's still going.

The first year for me to have the Greigii tulips bloom.  Are they usually this short?  The yellow is so bright.

Lots of tulips getting close to blooming.

One of the new Frittilarias from last year is close to blooming.

More Fritiallaria or Checkered Lily.

One of my new plants from the Northwest Perennial Alliance plant sale is this Tulipa turkestanica.

Magnolia 'Vulcan' is finally going to bloom.  This is it's third year in our yard.  Last year the buds were damaged by a late freeze.

Camellia japonica 'Kumasaka' with it's first flower opening.

Old-fashioned Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) are about a month behind, but they are finally close to blooming.

Yesterday I saw two Bald Eagles flying above our yard, today there were three and one seemed a bit smaller than the other two.  They appeared to just be soaring around and then eventually flew off.

Poor Gracie and Cookie haven't had much time to play because it's been so wet.  Sweet Pea got Cookie out to at least hop around the deck for awhile.  Gracie has gotten so good being around the rabbit, mostly just following Cookie around to smell him.

Tomorrow looks like the one and only day of sun this week so we'll be finding something to do outside.  Hoping that some of you are getting some spring like weather and enjoying the sun.

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.

Path garden blooms.

The path garden is looking better and better everyday. There seem to be new blooms almost each time I go out looking. Spring is definitely it's best time of year. There are three large trees that line the path garden. The tallest is the Ponderosa Pine which has the most beautiful bark and seems to be the most interesting to the birds. This weekend we saw a female Pileated Woodpecker on it. Then there is the Japanese Maple and then a large Cedar tree. All three are difficult to grow plants under. I've actually found the Japanese Maple to be the most difficult and the Cedar to be the least difficult.

The Japanese Maple which was named "Ashley" by my girls last summer, is just beginning to leaf out. Each Spring I'm always amazed at how suddenly the leaves appear. The tiny red flowers are also about to bloom. This is Sweet Pea's favorite climbing tree.

A Fernleaf Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia) surprises me each Spring with it's return. It's never grown very big, but usually it has a few flowers before it dies back for the summer.

An Epimedium that I planted last fall. I thought it had died, but now the new leaves and flowers are just showing up.

One of the grocery store Frittilarias ended up being a checkered one. Yeah!

Pink Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) is in full bloom now. I haven't seen any hummingbirds by it yet, but I anxiously waiting for them.

Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum) is blooming.

Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia) only has one flower bud so far, since I've only had this for a couple of years I'm not sure how fast it grows. It seems to be fairly slow growing.

And my current little favorite Navelwort (Omphalodes cappdocica) 'Starry Eyes' keeps blooming and blooming.

Our pretty Spring weather on Saturday has given way to wind and rain. It's so hard to have one nice day followed by many days of rain. I just want to go outside and weed and work in the garden. Hope you are having sunshine where you are!

A grateful Fertilizer Friday.

I've said before I had no idea that starting a blog would allow me to meet so many new people. This year my garden will be full of flowers started with seeds that were shared with me by some of the people I've met since starting blogging. Some are seeds saved from their gardens (Darla, Rain Gardener, Robin, Ginger, Dirt Princess, Laurie, Lona, Tina, Cameron and please remind me if I didn't mention you, I have them all written down somewhere around here ☺) or sent to me through the Gardening by Letter project. Many were from trades. One trade I was very lucky in was with Donna who sent me a box of chocolates in return, something I never expected but loved! Another blogger sent me a gift for my garden but asked that I not mention it, but you know who you are and thank you!
I want to give Lona of A Hocking Hill's Garden a big thank you. A few weeks ago I commented to Lona about the fairy that is on the top left of her blog. I've always thought it was very cute and wondered where she may have found it because I thought my daughter Sweet Pea would love one for her fairy garden. Lona told me she found it at last year's garden show and offered to look for one when she went back this past weekend. Imagine my surprise when I saw a package in the mail the other day and found the fairy from Lona's garden inside. Not a new one, but her own fairy. Her note explained she didn't see any others that were very good and she thought Sweet Pea would "enjoy it much more than I do." The kindness that she showed is something I'll always remember, especially when I see the fairy in Sweet Pea's garden.

The fairy sitting in the Navelwort (Omphalodes cappadocica) 'Starry Eyes'.

And in her new home, Sweet Pea's fairy garden. It was raining pretty hard when I took these pictures so I didn't really get the full view of the fairy garden.

Through blogging my thought that gardeners were generous people has been confirmed, not just in my own experience but what I see on other blogs as well. And it's not always something material that is shared, even more often it's supportive words or encouragement that I see written in comments on other blogs. I'm happy to be part of the garden blogging community.

Now on to the flowers blooming today:

Pulmonaria and Muscari.

Frittilaria were just planted about a week ago, I was surprised to find them already started and with buds. I was hoping they'd be purplish checkered type, but these are still pretty.

Leopard's Bane (Doronicum orientale) in full bloom.

White Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis).

I planted two different types of Crocus hoping they'd bloom together, but so far just the dark purples have bloomed.

I hope you will visit Tootsie at Tootsie Time to see what she and other gardeners from around the world are flaunting today. Thanks for stopping by to visit!