As Some Hibernate - Other Plants Bloom

This is Russian Sage, still in hibernation. In the next few months this plant will be so vibrant with color. We've had a ridiculously unusual winter here in western Washington this go-around. It was warm in February (usually our coldest month) and now that it's spring we experience freezing night temperatures along with the usual heavy April rains. [Click any image to enlarge it.]

This next bush is native to Washington. It's a flowering red currant. I planted it right next to the Russian Sage (so while one plant hibernates, the other is in bloom).
Look at all the weeding I need to do! This is part of my "shrink the lawn" project where I'm planting a lot of variety (instead of the more common green asphalt) all over our property. It's been raining so hard lately, and the weather is so cold when it's not raining, I haven't been out in the gardens much. [The white wood shavings you see are composted from my chicken coop. Never apply chicken manure directly to your garden without composting first because it's hot with nitrogen and will burn your plants]
I think Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs ... I cook with it year-round. What a blessing when it's in full bloom with such delicate purple flowers.

This next flowering bush is also called a "flowering red currant. Meanwhile it does not look like the native variety (pictured above). This one's flowers are much paler while the leaves look the same on both varieties. [Note, I am uploading this photos from my laptop and do not have editing software accessible to crop out my weeding bucket ... sorry]

So hard to believe that slugs can climb my stone altar, here, but they've obviously been nibbling on my orange pansy. (Click to enlarge photo.)
Isn't spring just beautiful? I love all my flowers planted from bulbs.
I think purple, orange and pink are my favorite garden colors (next to green).
Here's what I've done to keep slugs at bay. They have completely been ridiculously persistent with my flowering carnation variety plant, below. I thought this beauty was just wintering but on closer look I realized why she was not branching out. I'm very surprised this beautiful little gem is still alive. I have continued to circle it with coffee grounds since (which slugs do not like) and if you enlarge the photo you can see how the plant is just now starting to come back with precious little buds.) Ignore the fir tree clippings. They're not part of this plant.

Aren't these tulips just the funnest color?

Amazing discovery in my chicken coop this morning. The chickens that were hatched in early-to-mid October 2009 have already begun to lay eggs. (They're just 6 months old.) My grey hen, who I call Gandolf the Grey was sitting in a corner yesterday, and the day before at feeding time. Today, when I decided to force her out of the corner (because I was worried she was not eating) I found 17 eggs under her! I had no idea they were all laying already ... obviously more than a few days work they had there! Because I didn't know how old the eggs were and they were warm I added them to the compost but TOMORROW? Fresh eggs baby!

Below is a picture of my heartache. This is Runt, fully grown. S/he's always had trouble from the time s/he was a little chick. I believe Runt is a male because he's crowed a couple of times in the last few days. Runt is very crippled. I've posted, before how "she" wasn't growing feathers as fast as the others. Well, Runt's legs are all deformed and he can barely walk. He's just the sweetest bird otherwise. I put him in a cage to make sure he can reach his food. He was growing so thin prior to that decision and when I was previously giving water directly to him the others would come eat it before he could get to it.

Poor baby. Fortunately this bird has not crowd much at all. If he did, I'd have to put him down (as I don't think any other person would want the extra care required to take care of him and roosters are not allowed where we live.