The Last Week of August

This is the last week of August and I have one week to get the garden together before the start of September. Why??? I've spent the last five days, deciding on which party when. Right now, I have two major garden parties planned for September and a baby shower. There are still arrangements to make for two other parties. So, I'm busy.

I have one week to get ready for the first party. But with working, I find that I don't have a lot of time to get the garden ready. Husband has been doing his part. Today he edged all the garden beds. That was enough believe me.

Well, I still have a week and even if I don't get everything done, i.e. the rose in the very front of the house by a storm drain was struck by lightening over the weekend and is still there. I don't have the heart to send it on to heaven as it appears right now to be growing strongly and is actually getting ready to bloom! I'll allow it this time left to it. I'm sure the winter will finally take it and next spring I will dig it out for compost. The mint sprig I planted last year has gone crazy this year and moved into my Bayse's Purple rose that is trying to get started as well as my poor wild indigo. I am not happy about this and have already started to cut the stuff down, after which I will take a shovel to it. Bees, lots of bees love this stuff so I have to do this right at dusk so as not to get stung. There is also some other nasty weeds that need to find heaven. Mostly though, about an hour a day after work and the garden will look quite good. The weeds that are there are large and easy to see and pull. We've had enough rain here to keep the soil moist for now.

I also have to start planning my menu. Oh, my, that truly depends on what the weather is forecasted to be. If it rains, the dinner will be inside. If it doesn't, the dinner will be a garden party. I have a firepit that I will light, as well as a chimena that will also be lit. Then there are several Tiki torches around the deck and patio. All smoke nicely and will keep the bugs away. They'll also keep the hummingbirds away. They can be little devils, scrapping with each other and ending up on your dinner plate. No kidding! A pair of them were so busy scrapping that they both fell onto my dinner plate as I sat at the patio table eating. All three of us just sat there a moment and stared at each other. The tiny birds got their wits back and off they flew, buzzing right past my ear. But it would be nice to have this thing outside. My deck is so private now that the wisteria has grown in.

Starting next year, I'll be putting pots of bogonias out in the alcove on the deck beneath the wisteria. That spot has finally grown in and is now ready for my lovely, shade loving bogonias. It's so pleasant out there now. Eventually the patio will be the same way. I have a lovely yew that will afford privacy as it grows near the entry to the patio and a dragon holly that will provide shelter from the neighbors as well as the west winds. Both plants are slow growers, so that won't happen for a few years.

It will be nice having parties in my lovely garden. I won't be ready for winter this year, I'm sure. I want summer to stay.

Finally Finished

After 5 weeks of construction people and my bathroom torn up, it is finally finished and moved into. It is nice, really nice and I think a much better use of the space than before.

The Remodeling project continues

My bathroom is almost done now. I spent the day painting it yesterday (I won't do that again anytime soon!) and spent the evening cleaning up at least some of it. My poor whirlpool tub was so dirty and somehow managed to get drops of paint all over it even though it was cover with a drop cloth. But once the cloth was removed, it looked like the workers had sanded spackling and everything else over this tub. It took me an hour and a half to clean it. It looks great now. The toilet was even worse. I got the wall plates back on (very pretty) and both fans/lights up. The light over the sink is back up but I still need to put the recessed lighting up (royal pain). Then to move in the rest of the way.
I have to admit that I like the look of the paint in that room. The ceiling is a very light taupe, the walls a medium light taupe and the trim is a medium/dark taupe, all three shades a very different color of the same pallet. It gives the walls a plastered look which I really like and matches the marble look tile of the shower and tub perfectly. I also used my artist hand to do the edging of the wall and ceiling colors which add to the look. The border paper I have to put up there is a Victorian floral pattern of pink roses, purple hydrengas and small flowers of various colors on a very light taupe background with medium taupe Victorian swirl edges. Unfortunately I didn't have enough here to do the entire room, so I had to order more. That will go up when it arrives.
Today I will plan on spending most of the day, or a good part of it, on my hands and knees with a bucket of floor cleaner and a scrub brush, cleaning up the paint drops, grit and dirt off the floor of this bathroom. Then it will be cleaned up and ready for whatever decorations I choose to put in there. The shower door isn't here yet but should be coming in about a week or so, then a final inspection with the contractor who wants to take pictures for his portfolio.

I am really pleased with the bathroom at this point.

Mists

I’ve been suffering from stress and headaches again. I think it’s because of the bathroom remodel. When this is finished, I’m not sure what I want to do first, use the shower or the whirlpool. I need the jets for the knots in my back muscles but I also want to try that really cool shower. It’s going on 5 weeks now for a remodel that was supposed to last 3 weeks. Par for the course. I’m not upset about this but it does appear to be taking it’s toll anyway. I’m hoping this will be over soon, not because I am upset with the builder, but just because of these headaches.

I went to see an old friend, Linda, this weekend. It was so nice to see her again and to rejuvenate the friendship. It’s been far to many years since I’d seen her and so much has happened in both our lives. While I was visiting, her oldest daughter stopped by. I was surprised that Colleen remembered me. The visit lasted all afternoon and we left with her wanting to come and visit me. This is a good thing. I found out that she works at the local market that is just across the street from where I work. I may have to visit her at her stand over my lunch break some day soon.

My relationship with Linda kind of reminds me of that bittersweet chick-flick, "The Pond House". We run the same circles, the same areas but just seem to pass each other in the mist. Now with this conscious effort to meet again, maybe this fog has been lifted and we’ll be able to regain that close friendship we shared so many years ago. Oh, it won’t be the same, so much has happened both good and bad, but maybe the friendship will be just as strong. Only time will tell.

The Housing Slump

With the housing market beginning to slump, of course, I've decided that keeping my house up-to-date is more important right now that thinking about selling (no, I'm not nuts. I love this place). So, the bathroom project is moving along. There isn't much more expensive stuff I want to do once this is done. This is the bathroom that I wanted from the start and am finally getting it.

My whirlpool is being renovated. The shower head is now gone and the plumbing has been refitted to make this just a tub. The ceramic surround matches the shower. There will be an oak molding that will go around the tub to tie in the oak surround and finish the look. The raised decorative border is a very important part of this design and the single stone with a pewter rose and edges in the center is a tile we found hidden behind other stuff at a tile place where we visited. This tile is a one-of-a-kind and I thought would be perfect for my bathroom. It is in the center of the picture window that will overlook the mountain,if that window ever comes! We're now looking at about 20 days backordered. The oak trim pieces will go on early next week. Husband will be putting that on and got the adhevsive he will need from our tiler.

Once a 5x5 walk-in closet that wasn't used in 5 years, this is now a custom shower that really adds to the bathroom. Other than the plumbing fixtures, a grab bar and a glass shelf that will not be seen until you are actually in the shower, and of course, the door, it is basically finished. Some baseboard will need replaced and the painting done, but it shouldn't be long before I get to use my bathroom again.

My luxury bathroom is starting to come together. I think it's really quite nice. I can hardly wait to use that shower!! Did I tell you this will add about 125% of it's cost to the value of my home?

The Continuing Saga

Well, the bathroom remodel started off on the wrong foot. Our handyman, Meryl, caught us so off guard the first day and had my already overwhelmed husband in a total tizzy. I got home from work that day just in time to avert a potential mess. I came within a hair of throwing Meryl out of my house. But I didn't.

Three days later he was back again to work on the job he had started. I didn't have to report to work until later in the morning and had a chance to chat with him some. We discussed a few things like how he was going to approach this particular job and with that understanding, I ran off to the workplace.

He's been back several times since then to continue working on the demo of the closet that will become a shower room and we've been doing a lot better. Husband figured out that he should keep himself busy and away from Meryl who does a rather good job when he's not bothered. His demo and prep work is almost complete now. We are expecting the mason's to arrive within the next week or two when the tile comes in. We're also waiting on the picture window that will be installed over the whirlpool tub. Once everything is here, the bathroom should come together rather quickly.

The tile I picked out is a light cream with a gray swirl going through it. It has a lovely embossed taupe decorative tile that will also be used around the shower and the tub. Then there are lovely "buttons" of the same cream/gray with a nice Fleur in the taupe and a light turquoise to break up the tiles. I'm getting eight of those.

I'm planning on stealing away with one of the tiles while the mason's are installing it to select paint for the bathroom. I'll be the painter. I have some eggshell paint that is the current wall color and I will keep that for the ceiling. Even the ceiling inside the shower will get this paint. As far as the walls -- I've not yet decided. I'm thinking of something like a faux stone look for the bathroom. We're also planning on ceramic tile on the floor in the future. But that is something easily done by the homeowners. I've also see a lovely idea of stencil around the picture window and maybe the side window as well.

Since my colors in the master's suite is a cream/taupe with splashes of plumb and hunter green, I'm think a nice grape arbor stencil around the windows and mirrors would be wonderful. It will be decorated with ferns and other moisture loving plants at the picture window and the shelf that opens at the top of the shower.

I'm figuring this will take the rest of the summer. But it'll be nice when it's done. I can hardly wait. In the meantime, I'm using the spare bathroom and it's just so small compared to the master.

Garden Trees and Birds

When we first built this place, 5 years ago, it was a field of weeds and soybeans. Even the next spring, the farmer planted soybeans right up to where the builder was building my house. When it came time to grade, the builder said to wait until the farmer took down the beans. Well, he didn't take down the beans until mid December. I was furious! It was the driest, hottest and most uncomfortable summer there was and I had approximately 200 plants that needed (and I mean NEEDED) to be planted and the grading wasn't done!!!! We finally forced the builder to at least grade the front to the road so we had somewhere to start. However, he did refuse to plant grass -- too hot; too dry.

We planted eight trees. Three of them a good size and the rest very tiny. All but two were shade trees. I wanted native shade trees because that would draw in the birds and wildlife. Or, hybrid varieties of native shade trees. I planted a beech, red oak, Norway maple (OK this one isn't native but I liked the color), spruce, locust, poplar and two dogwood. That year we had chipping sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, ravens, bluebirds. The only squirrel I saw that summer was a dead one that somehow got into the soybean field that encroached all the way up to the beech and poplar trees that were planted 70 feet from the back of the house. I wanted those beans GONE!!! I saw a couple of field thrushes and our very friendly tree swallows. We learned quickly to keep the garage door shut after getting a couple of the swallows in the house, driving the cat absolutely nuts. We shouldn't forget the Hummingbirds either. They started coming around almost immediately, so for the first time I actually put out a feeder for them and could watch them. I got at least three a day.

That was 5 years ago. Today, I have exactly 55 trees in the garden, the soybeans are gone and the grass has been planted. I'm still keeping the big shade trees as close to native as possible. The woods around me have a good number of American Elm that seem to be doing OK. But the threat of Dutch Elm disease is still a very big threat. I wanted an elm, so I planted a Chinese elm -- not as pretty or majestic, but with a root system that suited the area better; deeper and more narrow than the American elm, and is much more resistant to Dutch Elm disease. I now have two nice sized red maples and I just planted a white ash, both of which are also strong trees in the woods around me.

The birds have also increased in numbers. I still have the chipping sparrows and tree swallows, blue birds and red-winged blackbirds. But this year I've seen a red-bellied woodpecker frequently checking out the oak and beech. There have been over a dozen hummingbirds that visit the feeder, house sparrows have moved in, purple finches have visited enough in large numbers to make me wonder if they are considering nesting in the garden, gold finches are nesting in the garden, Robbins and cardinals are becoming frequent visitors. A pair of mud swallows have a nest above the front door. If I leave the nest there, they will raise their young without making to much of a mess of my porch. And this morning, orioles visited, playing in the forsythia and in one of the largest of my rose bushes.

I have room for one more shade tree. I haven't decided which tree I want there so I may spend a couple of years thinking about it. But I am now working on the shrubbery, trying to plant natives that would add to the garden as well as draw in the wildlife, especially butterflies and birds. One of the plants I've found by accident is the native milkweed. It's a weed (or a wildflower since I really like this plant) with a fragrance that is heavenly. It is the only plant that the monarch butterfly will lay it's eggs on, and it's also quite pretty and tall. Two seeds ended up in a garden patch last year and I let them grow. This year, yes, they spread and I now have a patch of milkweed. Of course, I have hybrid varieties of milkweed throughout the garden as well as some native varieties that are somewhat different from the one that just grew. But the hybrids don't seem to be visited quite as much. The wild one is covered with butterflies and bees and is intensely more fragrant than the hybrids. I'm sure I'm going to have to weed it out eventually or it'll overtake the entire garden, but it is a plant that has won a place in my garden and I will keep some. I had quite a number of generations of monarch butterflies in the garden last year with just two plants. I hope I have more this year with more plants.

As my garden grows and the trees start maturing, I'm seeing more and more different varieties of birds here. I still haven't seen the larger woodpeckers that I can see in the woods, or the bluejays. But they will come, I'm sure. I have rabbits now, though I think I'd rather eat them than let them eat my plants and they will draw in foxes and other predators such as hawks. The squirrels will eventually come when the acorns and beechnuts become more plentiful. Right now I'm just enjoying the growing number of bird species and of course all the babies that are learning to fly in my back yard.

Old Friends

I found an old friend last evening and called her. We had worked together so many years ago and had celebrated each other's weddings, birth of children, divorces, family deaths and heartaches. She and her girls accompanied us and our Captain to Newfoundland swim meets and made applesauce together. After I had left Historic Strasburg Inn, our get-togethers became more spaced until we finally lost touch. I was so glad I found her. I'd been looking for her for some time but last night, trying to locate her again, I came across a name I'd not seen before. She had gotten remarried and this strange name is what led me to her. It was a stroke of luck. I spent an hour on the phone with her doing some basic catchup but we're planning on getting together once again for more indepth catching up. We haven't decided where yet, just a date. I'm looking forward to it. There's a lot to talk about. We've been through so much together and could only scratch the surface yesterday.

A Rose Show Photo Contest

My rose society had our annual rose show and this year a photography contest. It does appear the the photo contest did stimulate a good deal of interest from the general public.

We had about 4 folks who entered the contest this year. The winnings were varied, but here's mine:

Honorable Mention: X-Rated, miniature, introduced in 1993. This is a nice little rose and was exceptionally nice for me this year. (Ribbon)










Third Place: Sweet Dream, Floribunda, introduced in 1988. This surprised me as I had always thought that Sweet Dream was a miniature. I had to change the class and status of this rose in my garden. It's a sound rose, with very small miniature sized leaves and blooms that resemble the miniflora (which is where I think this rose should be classed). (Ribbon)






2nd Place: Baronne Prévost, Hybrid Perpetual introduced in 1842. A very lovely, very BIG OGR with the most beautiful fragrance. It is a bit susceptible to black spot, but with a little care is strong and disease resistant throughout the growing season. (Ribbon)







1st Place: Soroptimist International, miniflora, introduced in 1995. A splendid miniflora that can be extremely good. It hold good form longer than most other miniatures and is a very bright and cheery color. (Ribbon)

Best White: Margaret Merril, Floribunda, introduced in 1977. When this rose is good it is really good! I usually have problems with thrips with this rose, often destroying the first flush of the season. A real headache for me. Thrips has got to be the one bug I seriously hate. Margaret also has problems with black spot, but this is easily controlled. Still, she is not a maintenance free rose, but I love her. (trophy award)

Best in Show: Rosa Eglanteria, species rose, introduction actually unknown, but somewhere before or around 1500. This fabulous rose is a show stopper when it's in bloom but it's the leaves and not the flowers that actually harbor the interest. The leaves when wet smell like Granny Smith apples, especially after a rain. When I first got it from a friend who was ill and wanted a good home for it, after a rain I'd walk outside and wonder who was baking the apple pie. In winter the plant still continues to shine with beautiful orange hips which the birds enjoy and can also be used to make rose tea. (trophy award)

I've gotten a number of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and honorable mentions, but this is the first time I'd gotten trophies. It feels good. The winning ribbons and the matching photos will go on the wall with the others. The trophy winners will be put on a different wall to stand out.

It's been a good day.

Feeling Abandoned

I grew up in a world where a silent religious war raged. Being somewhere inbetween the two waring factions, I've always felt pushed away, never really belonging to either. It is something that I've had complexes about, but I've learned to deal with them or at least surpress them.

Lately I've been feeling abandoned. At this moment, I'm not sure which feeling is actually worse, being pushed away or being abandoned. I'll figure it out. I always do, or at least manage to find a way around it.

A Huge Difference

This morning started out the same as most Sunday mornings, but as I was spraying the roses for fungus, it started to drizzle hard enough to send me inside. Later, I finished the spraying and came in just in time to help Husband.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided on which contractor we wanted to remodel the bathroom. This particular contractor came in 20% lower than the next leading, qualified contractor and even gave us more than everyone else. We checked him out thoroughly before signing any contracts. Even with all this, it appears right now that we'll have more than enough money for this project. So we decided to go and splurge on the one thing that the house desperately needed -- a ceiling fan for my office. We went to the local home improvement store and found a Hunter fan that fit the bill. It was only $100 out of the loan package, so it shouldn't interfer.

We put this fan up today. It took us a couple of hours until it was up and running but we were in need of bulbs for the light and fan pulls which is how I will be turning this thing off and on. Actually, the ceiling fans are basically left on 24x7 unless we turn them off to change the season setting and clean them.

The past couple of years, I've spent a lot less time in my office over the summer. The computer here gets so hot and if there's not enough air moving, or the A/C is on, it gets so stuffy in the room that it's hard to breath. The ceiling fan creates the air movement that is needed and helps to keep the computer cooler. It's actually pleasant working in here now.

Now that the pulls are on, the bulbs are in and the house is cleaned up from our construction, this fan looks like it's been here since day one. Being here makes a world of difference in comfort.

After the rain

Taboo, Hybrid Tea introduced in 1993 and rated a rather low to medium 7.3 by the ARS. I have to agree that this rose is more difficult to grow but the blooms (the first nice ones in 4 years) are gorgeous. This is one of the deepest reds I've seen and would rival the very tender (zone 7 and above) Francis Dubruiel. I'm hoping to keep this one a few more years and try to start own-roots from it so I could have several of these, enough to make a nice vase. Put a little baby's breath with it and you will have a most glorious vase. More than once, this rose nearly died on me. It doesn't seem to like getting moved and I've had to move it several times until I found a spot where it did well. It took three years in this spot until it started to establish but now (right now) looks strong, disease resistant and quite lovely.

It rained yesterday, starting right before I left work and continued throughout the evening. There was thunder and lightening with the rain, but it wasn't as threatening as it can get and the rain, though heavy at times, was steady and soaking. Just what we needed for this spring. You can see everything drinking it up, first to recoop what the dry weather had taken from them and now to grow and replace all leaves that have been lost in the past month. I'm expecting to see everything in the garden growing like gangbusters in the next two days. Don'tja just love it!

The weather reports have been telling us about this rain for about a week, so I made sure the systemic was put around for food and bug control. I'm thankful for it. It was badly needed.

So this morning, though the sun is out and it promises to be a hot and steamy day, the dirt is far to wet to be playing in so I will make myself busy with strawberry jam. At least one batch, maybe two. I have plenty of strawberries and many more out there screaming to be picked.

Strawberry season

I spent this evening gathering fresh strawberries out of my garden. I processed two quarts by washing them, slicing them and sugaring them for strawberry shortcakes. The rest I put in a pot to wait until I get them turned into jam.

Last year this time, I usually did them as soon as they came into the house. Of course, I worked nights then. Still, even though I did them, I was usually only half asleep. These days, I'm up early and to bed early, getting much more rest, feeling like I have a lot less day, even though it is after dark until I get to sleep. But I sleep more.

I still have to figure out how I want to do these strawberries. I'll probably wait until Saturday unless I'm feeling energetic tomorrow night. Who knows. Usually Fridays I do stay up well past the bewitching hour and do feel energetic. Maybe I'll make at least some of the jam tomorrow. I have enough strawberries to make three batches of jam. However, I'll be lucky to have enjoy sugar for two.

We love strawberries in the house. That's why I grow a patch, harvest it and make desserts and jams out of it. After the season is over this year, I will rip out the plants as they are now getting old and replace them in the spring. The process will start over again without a crop next year. We'll have plent of jam to last us until the next harvest. Fresh ones could be at a premium though. I guess we'll just have to survive on the California berries that are shipped here around March or so.

A funny thing happened on the way...

I have a photo contest coming up the 16th of June. Of course, in preparation of this, there is a lot of photographing going on around my house. The contest of roses, but I'm never one to resist a pretty shot. The other day I was out because the rose beds were in their glory. Husband caught the bug when he saw me walking around the garden and got his camera as well. Between us, we took 156 shots.
I got the camera with the most shots uploaded first, cleaned it out in preparation for the next shoot and hooked up the second camera.

Husband couldn't wait until the larger slower camera was uploaded and decided to look at the pictures already on the computer. All these 100 photos were selected as he looked at them. Then he said to me, "I'll show ya somethin'. This one is blurry so I'll delete it." He hit delete and sat there staring at the computer as each of the 100 pictures disappeared, one at a time!

"Oh," he said, "You can upload them again since I

accidently deleted them. I responded that I had already deleted them from the camera. YIKES!! There were pictures in that bunch that I really wanted for the photo contest.

After some digging, we found out where the computer stores deleted picture files and were able to restore them. I told Husband he was lucky that we found them. Otherwise....

These are a few of those pictures from the retreived deleted files. Yep, I was not happy about that incident. I told Husband to keep his hands off my computer from now on. He's always complaining anyway that I don't have my machine set up the same way he has his set up. He was lucky we found those files.

Right Now

Gruss an Aachen, rose, considered the first floribunda actually introduced 30 years before the class. This is my favorite rose. It's hardy, disease resistant and very fragrant Since it was introduced in 1909 it is often considered an antique rose.



My tall bearded Iris garden is in full bloom right now. There are nine different hybrids in this bed and soon to be more.

Today's Shots

Some favorite shots from the garden today...



Theresa Bougnet, Hybrid Rugosa, very fragrant










Baronne Provest, Hybrid Perpetual, very fragrant











Gnus Flash, Tall Bearded Iris, fragrant, rare stripped variety

















L. Candida, clematis, large dinnerplate flower, introduced in the 1890's. My favorite clematis and the only one I'll have in my garden.




























Romantic Evening, Tall Bearded Iris

Something Pretty

Barrone Provest. This is a lovely but not small Hybrid Perpetural old rose from the late 1800's. I got this plant when I visited Vintage Gardens near San Francisco and had it shipped home. The plant was one cane, quite small but bloomed well. I kept it in a pot and moved it with me where ever I went while building the house. That was in 2001. Now, the plant is an easy 6½ feet tall, just as wide. The fragrance from her hundreds of flowers wafts into my office. This plant is lovely. Not only tall, but bushy and wide and blooms quite well. Repeats well. Even though it is more disease resistant than my other Hybrid Perpetural, Frau Karl Druschki, it still wants weekly attention to keep it healthy. If you have a large spot that is crying out for a rose, this is one I would recommend. The fragrance is strong and heavenly.

A Busy Day

Today was one of the biggest Saturdays of the year for me. It started bright and early with a plant auction in the Conestoga Historical Society http://www.lancastercountyheritage.com/heritage/cwp/view.asp?a=627&q=464544 http://www.rootsweb.com/~pacahs/wagon.htm. There, almost as soon as I got there, they were auctioning off a beautiful 3" cal. Zalkova elm which I got for a whopping $45. That's easily a $350 tree in these parts. It was one of the first things to be auctioned off. That's why I got it so cheap. After that everything started going for much, much higher so it was time to go. From there I went to the Penn State Extension here in Lancaster, where they were having their annual native plant sale. I had been there in March for their symposium, now for their sale. I managed to get some native plants that are still waiting to be planted. I'll get there.

After that, there were trips to Home Depot and Lowe's to look at shower tile. Did I tell you that I'm remodeling the master bath so that there is a huge 2 person shower in there as well as my whirlpool? I am also putting a window above the tub that will look out to a million dollar view of the mountain as well as let in some really great southern natural light. I'd also like to put ceramic tile floor in there, as well as a ceramic tile surround around the tub. I want a new vanity with two bowls and a granite top. The shower wall will be lowered to about 6 feet to let in natural light and will also make for a great plant shelf up there. I don't want much. Anyway, while we were there, I also looked at the hanging baskets. I want two for the front porch and three or four for the patio pots. Of course, everything at Home Depot and Lowe's are so generic that I was disappointed. So, we ended up at my favorite little flower shop right here in Conestoga called Tudbinks where for half the price of Lowe's and Home Depot's generic pots, you get some of the most beautiful custom made hanging flower pots. Of course I got hanging pots for my porch and pots for inside my pation urns.

Finally getting home, I put the hanging pots in my decorative hangers on the porch and place the pots in the urns on the patio. It was time for a short break. Shortly, the neighbor lady came over and was wondering where I found those gorgeous purple flower pots that she saw all the way at the top of Green Hill Road. I use deep royal purple patunias and yellow patunias for my back patio and this year I've also added a little red patunias as well. The front is red geraniums with something dangly, this year is sweet potato vine and orange miniature patunias. Apparently these pots stood out so much that the neighbor lady saw them all the way up the hill on her way home.

Then I hand fertilized about 2/3's of my roses, made myself a grilled cheese sandwich and helped find the perfect spot for the 500 lb. elm. Now I am no ready to call it a day. I think I'll run a bath and turn on those jets.

Checking the Lines

This happens every so often at the power lines that run across the back of my property. It's really cool to watch these guys as they check the power lines to make sure everything is operating fine. When I'm out and they come overhead, they'll often wave. I wave back.

This fellow is sitting on a platform. He probably has a place there where he can keep whatever tools he needs to do his job.

There is another team that will fly over and this fellow stands on the sleighs to inspect the cables. I have to admit, standing on the sleighs makes me nervous. I think it would be hard to keep your balance.

Still, it's cool to watch them as they go about their business.

More Garden Pictures

Virginia Blue Bells. Very short season. Once the blooms are spent, the plant will go dormant again until next year. It does spread but very slowly. One of the most beautiful of plants. I wait for this one every year.









Tahiti daffodil. Continually a nice double daffodil year after year.








Purple Leaf Cherry blossoms. This is the start of the season for this tree. When in full bloom, you will see only flowers. The rest of the summer it has these beautiful purple leaves that turn an even brighter purple in the fall. A lovely contrast to the bronze of the red oak and the yellow of the tulip poplar.





Leopard's Bane. A short lived perennial. I thought two years ago that this plant was done. Then this year, it appear out of nowhere in a different spot than it was and growing nicely. This is such a beautiful flower.

Dalsnaugh Daffidol. One of my favorite double daffidols. This one has a tendency to be rather finicky, looking like this only when the conditions are just right.

I've been busy in the garden, as usual this time of year, weeding and cleaning up all the gardens and getting them ready for mulch. It's been harder than usual as I was changing shifts last year and had to get adjusted to that. Hence I left the garden go. I have 8 beds ready for the mulch and 5 more to go. I've also been planting the little plants I bought this spring. All the roses are pruned, shaped and fed. Now to finish the beds and get them ready for mulch. If anyone wants to volunteer to help weed, let me know.