Some spring clean up in the garden

This is some of the tulips in bloom now.  These flowers are so easy and put on such a grand display for years.   I have them planted everywhere in the garden and they are a riot of color just now.

This is the before and after picture of the Virginia creeper and the St. John's worte.  The Virginia creeper had advanced way up the telephone pole and then slumped down again with all the weight of the debris, squirrel nests and all within in the vines.  The ivy, that I added for some winter color was advancing up the pole too.  It put on a glorious display in Autumn.  It will grow again, in no time.  The St.John's worte will be better for its close pruning.

It seems we are on water rationing again this year.  We also have a by-law out lawing the use of weed killers on lawns.  Everyone has to pull out their dandilions by hand.  I have all kinds of little weeds taking over my bits of grass.  They will become 'meadows' in no time.
Yesterday I spent about 6 hours out in the garden doing numerous things.  I finished the clean up of the Virginia creeper and st. john's worte.  I now have about 16 bags of this good woodland type soil, to add to the woodland when I get it cleaned up.  I spent some time clipping out dead wood in the Japanese cedar and on the pin oak.  So far I seem to have one tall bearded iris in this woodland iris bed, in bloom.  I cleaned up that area a few days ago, but they need some good compost.  The irises on the vegetable garden edge are going crazy this year.  Many buds forming from just a bit of attention to their soil and weeding last year.  They are really tall too.  Anywhere that I have added compost, the plants seem to be extra tall.  The tulips are at least 2 1/2 feet tall.
I cleaned most of the birdseed weeds out of the bed by the side of the garage.  The tulips are doing great, there.  The oriental poppies are coming into bloom.  There is still some grass there that I will have to keep after.  At the top of the driveway strip the perennial geraniums are looking terrific and are covered with blooms.  There is morning glory along this flower bed strip along between our driveways.  I really need to keep after it with the round up and the paint brush. 
I transplanted the plants I had purchased on Sunday.  The 6 little Chinese vegetables are looking good in their garden row.  The strawberries have lots of blooms and the rhubarb is slowly growing up.  I clipped some of the cedar hedge along the top of the garden.   It doesn't need much, so I can do it with the hand pruner.  I transplanted the new small pink baby's breath into the strawberry jar on the little rockery at the back.  It should fall over the edges in a cascade of pink.  Most of last year's new little alpines have survived and are doing fine, along with the lewisias, a campanula and a few other older ones, on this little rockery.  I put a couple of cosmos into the pink pot by the back garage entry.  I have the tomatoe and 2 basil in a big pot.  The new delphinium in a big pot and 2 of the smaller perenials and the same with the hollyhock.  The triouchina tree is in a pot of its own.  It is suppose to bloom all summer.  I hope I can keep it alive and well grown.  It is a beautiful tree, but will need to be brought in for the winter. 
I fixed the water flow of the pump and now have a faster wall fall.  The 4 new fish are visible.  the water hawthorn is blooming.  I saw the frog again.  It is not big enough to eat the fish.  So, what ever got them did a thorough job of it.  I no longer even see little black ones, and I had hoards of them.
Trimming the hedges is next on my to do list.  The sun is suppose to shine tomorrow.