Starting Off the Week.....

A weathered tulip puts out great color as it start to decline.  The light was perfect for flower shots yesterday so I could get great shots out of the sunshine.

 The old fashioned iris is first to bloom for spring.  This one was transplanted to this new location last summer and it did take to its new area quite well. I brought this iris from my parents  home as it is has great color and does look like the older traditional iris.

Some of the iris were rescued from the iris borer but I have some of them that were effected.  I have a large hybrid, almost black in color, that is only putting out one bloom this year.  Maybe it is just one stalk with more blooms but it usually puts up a dozen stems.  The weather is always changing the gardeners plans.   I did not see a single daffodil bloom this year from all my bulbs and the weigela shrub, pink one,  has died down to its roots.

 I have a lot of photos and I just won't be able to share them all. This young bluejay was out and about finding just the right seeds to eat. He would sit on top of the birdhouse and look down for the longest time to see if he thought it would be safe to land on the feeder. This guy hung around for a long time so I have many shots of him.

This spent bloom on the fernleaf peony was the only bloom on this plant.  I didn't get a shot of it before the rains that we had.  It is the first time this plant has bloomed in its new location. I have regular peonies planted next to it and they each are going to bloom for their first times this year. My regular peonies all have blooms on them so I will be glad to see them as they didn't bloom last year.

The monarda patch has grown larger and as you can see that I have a free tree to cut down growing in the patch.  While looking up the spelling of the plant I noticed it is considered a fragrant herb. I never knew that as I have never ever picked a leaf to smell it. Our rains have really made these plants to grow into a thick clump.

The camera doesn't like it if I don't square it up perpendicular to the flower.  I keep getting a focus problem on part of the plant.  It would take a very short tripod to put on the ground to make it work.

I am in two positions today being a science teacher in the middle school in the morning and then in special ed.  high school in the afternoon. School will be out in a couple of weeks so I can get back to living again.  I am not going to be getting many more days of work with teachers really needing to be in their classrooms at the end of the year.

We did not get severe weather at any time yesterday.  We did get some good rain showers.  The bad stuff went to the west of us with a couple of tornadoes hitting ground in a couple of towns.  I quit looking at the weather for now and will have to see later today as to how we are doing. I hope everyone is doing good and thanks for stopping by today.