There was a light rain late last night but it cleared up early this morning. Today and yesterday were beautiful--in the 70s and sunny. What a great holiday weekend so far!

Both Ken and I spent three hours yesterday and two hours today working in the large back bed. I never thought that it would take so long to weed and mulch. And we are not even finished with it yet. We spent a lot of time carefully removing all of the little weeds growing in the bed. Then I put newspaper down and covered it with the cocoa mulch. I still need to go back and cover some of the missed areas with more cocoa mulch but I only have two left. We'll stop by Panettas Nursery tomorrow (if they are open) and pick up more mulch. I'm planning on finishing this bed tomorrow.

The coral bells are beautiful. I told Ken to keep on eye on them when he is sitting on the patio because the hummingbird will feed on them. I know that the new purple ones are popular but I like the old-fashioned types that I have. They have been very dependable.

I also weeded and spread cocoa mulch (no newspapers) on the butterfly house bed. I left areas open to plant three zuchinni plants. However, I decided not to plant green beans in this bed and instead I put the pink Wave petunias that I purchased several weeks ago around the edges and in the bare spots. They should give this bed color in the middle of the summer when the rest of the bed has only foliage.

The small bed next to the butterfly house bed is looking beautiful. The irises should be opening next week. Also, the Nana coreopsis is beginning to bloom and the Pinks look spectacular. I have had this one Pink plant for years. I bought three (or maybe six--I'm not sure) for 99 cents at English Gardens but the other ones did not survive. I moved this one to its current home a few years ago and it has been doing very well. It blooms for a long time and has repeat blooms later in the season.

Three out of six of the delphiniums that I planted last year survived the winter. I read that they are heavy feeders so I will be feeding them with the worm compost fertilizer.

I saw a black swallowtail butterfly on the lilacs today. The lilac flowers are beginning to fade. Ken is planning on cutting back the bushes so that they maintain their shape and height.