Dear Noah...

I opened the door this morning expecting a rush of cold air to greet me. Instead, it's muggy and warm even though the temperature stands at 57 degrees. A high of 77 is expected.

Yesterday, the rain started falling about 3pm. I was napping at the time, but when I woke up about 7:30, it was coming down nicely. Around 10pm, the bottom fell out. It was a hard, steady rain that lasted for several hours. When I went to bed at 11:30, it was still falling. This morning, there are a few patchy white spots in the Eastern sky. By mid afternoon, it should be clear. I could use some sunlight.

All told, we got just under 2" of rain overnight. We could use a little more, but not today.



With the yard being so soggy, I have no plans to work outside today. I've got a load of laundry to do, still need to clean the house a bit, and I have to work this evening. My first cup of coffee is about half done.

12:11pm - The sun is out. The humidity is intense. At 61 degrees, it feels like the upper 70s already. I'm thinking of wearing shorts to work.

I packaged up all the seeds that were drying in the basement. Castor beans, agastache mix, salvia subrotunda, salvia elegans, etc and so forth. I scattered the remains in the meadow garden.

Behind the upper potager, I have decreed that the area I intend to plant my figs will also be a red garden. I've got 15 new pineapple sage cuttings stuck today. I've also got enough salvia subrotunda seeds to choke a few hummers and goldfinches. I'll try to find some white agastache next year to plant in between the reds. I may even take cuttings of the white butterfly bush this fall to scatter in between. In a few years, the reseeding qualities of those plants should fill the area nicely as the figs grow.

I also took 5 cuttings from the passion vine in the planter by the basement door. I can't find my seed packet and I have no way of knowing if that plant will return next spring, so I want to be sure I have it.

In the dining room window, a piece of an evergreen wisteria, Millettia reticulata, has finally put out a single, lonesome root. It's been sitting in water for a couple months. I brought it home from work when it broke off while uncarting the mother plant. It has purple flowers all summer that smell of camphor. I'm hoping the smell is something mosquitoes aren't fond of. It'll cover the arbor in the perennial bed starting in the spring. It's not supposed to be cold hardy here in zone 7b, but there are reports of it growing as far north as Raleigh. I'll keep it inside for the winter.



Sitting next to it, roots have formed on the wild ageratum I pulled from the ditch on Brown Avenue. I'm still watching for seeds too.



Pay no attention to the dusty window sills. The construction zone in the kitchen means that nothing gets a thorough cleaning until I'm done. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The bedroom windows are open to air the house out a bit.