June Flowers!

So as my battle with the Creepers continues, I am finding even more gems hidden under all that brush. I have already gushed about my love for the peony and lily I found in May, and now I have two more lovelies to share. The first of which I knew was there, but wasn't sure what color it was going to be. Meet the hydrangea bush:

Depending on the acidity of your soil, the hydrangea blooms can vary from pink to blue (with shades of purple in between). The varying color depends on the amount of aluminum that the plant absorbs, which is based on the pH of your soil: more acidic (lower pH, more aluminum absorption) = blue flowers, more basic (higher pH, less aluminum absorption) = pink flowers. Sorry to go all Bill Nye on you there, but long story short, it looks like ours are blue. It's a boy! I shall call you Larry. 


I would like to claim credit for finding the next plant, but that really goes to Lucy. So while I was hacking away at the bushes (this has become a daily obsession of mine...with no end in sight), Lucy was suspiciously busy. When I went to investigate I found that she was eating the plants. Normally, this would be a "BAD DOG!" moment, but then I realized what she was snacking on: Strawberries!

As you can tell, there is still some freeing to be done to get to the strawberries, but they are definitely there. It is always exciting to see more variety in the plants and I was especially pleased because these reminded me of the strawberry plant that I got in elementary school while visiting the local farm. My grandfather helped me plant it along my childhood home. So while I had to compete with the birds for ripe strawberries growing up, it looks like my biggest competition for strawberries now has four legs and is shaped like a sausage: 

Dog...the Berry Hunter!