**Orchid photo via Pixabay; text added by Natalie

**Strawberries image via Pixabay; text added by Natalie

**Daylily photo taken in her yard by Natalie; collage created by Natalie

I love to play, and my favorite place to do research is the garden.  So I took a chance on a packet of hollyhock seeds, and my research paid off with the glorious beauty you see in this photo. I bought the seed packet for these hollyhock last fall, and it recommended that they be sown in the fall weeks before our first freeze. Unfortunately however it was already very close to our first average freeze actually, and as it turned out, our first one was our worst one for this past winter. But they had germinated by the time it came, and so I covered them hoping they would survive and they did. So it went every time is froze in what little winter we had that I would go out and cover the growing baby plants until the last freeze came at last. Thus I was rewarded with these beauties which are among my favorite flowers, and now I get to play with my camera and record the outcome of my research.

**Hollyhock photo taken today by Natalie

Paragons of Pinkness…

**All photos (hollyhock, gladioli, and lily) taken in her yard today by Natalie

**Image found on Pixabay; text added by Natalie

**Morning Glory photo taken in her yard by Natalie today; text added by Natalie

**Photo by Natalie; text box added by Natalie

**Daylilies photo taken in her yard by Natalie; text added by Natalie

**Photo by Natalie; text box added by Natalie