Peonies and other flowers

The Peonies are done. I should have taken more pictures when it was in full bloom. It looks a terrible mess now, the branches bent under weight of dead flowers and from heavy rain, the ground below plastered with half-decayed petals.

I went to clean some of it up today

and left about a dozen heads with seed on them.

I've decided I do want to grow this elsewhere in the yard, and it seems easier (and more plentiful) to grow from some seed than to dig up and split the plant. Another gardening experiment ensues!

As I don't spend much time in the front yard, went ahead and cleaned up more of those beds while I was out there. Pulling weeds and yanking out volunteer trees, came across some more plants in flower. One of the Hosta plants I moved from the backyard is sending up flower stalks:

A few weeks ago I planted Nasturtium seed in those beds that ring the two trees in front, and just now their little rounds leaves circle the tree stump.

And as I worked my way around to the strip by the driveway on the side, found this first Marigold flower!

Irwin hangs out with me when I garden.

I've come to recognize a certain call the birds make when he's near, they follow us around the yard perched in a tree just overhead making a short, repetitive "chack, chack" call that after a while sounds to me like they're saying "cat! cat!"

With good reason. I found this just under a bush: