Purple Beauty ...and Pests!

Time for the not-native-ginger (mazus reptans) to bloom. Loooove it!

The avocados are spreading their leaves and everything is filling out marvelously.

I hadn't made it to the newest section so it's been a weedy mess as shown here.
I did finally get to clean it up Saturday - still a bit messy since it's my
"testing zone" to see if things that look like weeds are really weeds. 😆

My white bleeding hearts from my friend finally bloomed!
Think this is the first year they've been hardy enough!
The pink bleeding heart plants are holding on by a hair;
looking pretty rough. Definitely no blooms this year :-(

And a moment of silence for the columbine :-(

I saw that the columbine were blooming, but hadn't gone close for a couple days. I finally went out and wondered why the flowers looked so sad. Then my eyes moved down the stalks to realize that the bottom was skeletonized!!

I looked at the other ones I had divided throughout the bed last year and every - single - one...destroyed! 

Tiny bugs that I later identified as aphids AND small green caterpillars. Seriously?!!

So off to the nursery I trotted for insecticidal soap. Boy does that do the trick!

But so sad that I didn't catch it earlier. 

The columbine usually bloom so long! 

I'm very thankful that I caught it before they likely moved to other plants. Can't believe they only targeted the columbine which are spread all throughout the garden!   

Alas.

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In happier news, I've seen little friends in stores and decided I needed a little turtle or snail or something. But I'm cheap. So imagine my happiness when I'm strolling through a flea market and find a little snail friend!!

I was so excited when the guy said $3, I didn't even think to talk him down to 2!

Perfect!