Early Morning Edits.

The alarm went off at 6am. I made a full strength cup of coffee to gather my thoughts with. By 7, I was in the yard. For an hour and a half, I pulled plants (Dusty Miller, bee balm, cosmos, Rudbeckia hirta, Veronica spicata, cosmos, Mystic Spires salvia, cosmos, asters, cosmos, and shasta daisies). The remnants went into the gully. I can't even see the compost bin due to the pokeweed in the gully.

Simplifying the plantings and redesigning the beds is necessary. Intentions did not survive the summer. The Crape Myrtle Bed will be replanted this fall with butterfly bushes from the shrub island. When they were only 4" tall, I planted them 2' apart. Oops. In the Crape Myrtle Bed, they'll have room to expand.



The "meadow" is just a patch of weeds with a few cosmos and coreopsis blooms. The weedwhacker will flatten this area soon.



The succulent bed can stay. For now.



Between the potager beds, ornamental grasses will transition into Knockout Roses and Coreopsis Full Moon. The roses will need to be moved. Hybrid Teas and I do not get along. They're being donated to a customer who brings me things each week from her yard. Other perennials like Joe Pye Weed and agastache will be repurposed for the perennial bed.



It's not much, but it is a start. Three years in the making, I'm giving myself until April to "clean it up a bit". It's 79 degrees and sunny.

Rain

It had to happen eventually. The rain started about 4:30pm. A few pops of lightning were followed by rolling thunder. The raindrops were huge at first. Within a minute, the concrete was a half inch of water. It continued for a couple of hours, light showers alternating with heavy downpours. The weather station claims almost 1" of rain fell. A light drizzle passed by again overnight. More storms expected this evening and much of next week.

On Friday morning, I spent some more time in the garden planting out rooted cuttings of Black Knight butterfly bush. I took the cuttings from the one I gave Robert more than a month ago. The roots were long, white and healthy. The cuttings surely enjoyed the moisture. I planted 12 of these around the backyard and in the Neighbor's corner. One way or another, I will have that chainlink fence blocked from my view within a couple years. Good thing, too. I have plans for the patio thanks to a picture I saw in a book last week at work. It's not going to be too grand, but it will be a nice place to have a martini after work in the evenings once the mosquitoes have gone to bed. A small stainless steel grill will be included, as will some sort of sitting accoutrements. I've already picked out the location. The invasive plants will be removed this fall.



Not much is happening in the garden these days. It just keeps doing what it does. Flowers open, seeds form, plants die, and new ones spring up to take their places. More notes are being made as time progresses. Joe Pye Weed is just starting to bloom. Rooted cuttings were planted out on Friday too. I guess they were done last year when I finally got around to planting them. I thought they had died. They were just resting.



I've eaten a few Black Krim tomatoes this week. I've saved seeds already. I really like the flavor, even if the skins were a little tough. I'm thinking the lack of rain made them that way. The Romas rotted again. I won't be growing those next year.



A single clematis bloom was open this morning on the perennial bed trellis. The spring flush was beautiful. Perhaps the showers last week and the ones yesterday gave it a push.



It's 81 degrees and partly cloudy. Everything looks refreshed. Roses have been pruned and will be sending out new growth for the fall spectacular. My vacation begins tomorrow.

Misty Morning.

Last night's rain gave us three-quarters of an inch. The yard, as expected, was refreshed this morning. People seem nicer. Heat and lack of rain makes the customers grouchy. More is expected tonight and Friday.

The Stargazers are cracking. This year, they're almost 5' tall.



The centerpiece of the Crape Myrtle bed is blooming.



It's a hot pink.



The wall of butterfly bushes have grown in completely to block the backyard.



You have to turn the corner before you can see back here. It's filling in nicely. The meadow, not so much. As usual, click to embiggen.



It's 82 degrees, sunny, and muggy. The high today is forecast to reach the upper 90s. Someone mentioned 100 degrees at the store. In any case, it's going to be hot.

Bloom Day

It's June 15th. Last night a wind storm came through and tore down a tree two streets over. The power was off for almost 5 hours. It warmed up a bit in the house. No painting was accomplished in the dark. And now, the blooms.

Echinacea "White Swan"



The first Sunflower.



Hot pink Four O'clocks.



Red Four O'clocks.



The first zinnia. Why are they always pink in my yard?



There's a vitex blooming in the pokeweed jungle.



Dahlia.



Om, nom, nom. The next squash is being created.



White Butterfly Bush. This is one of the two I have. I grew this one from seed.



This creature was spotted this morning hanging from the bottomside of a weed I missed last week on the slope. I think it's molting into something I've never seen before.



It's 72 degrees. Another hot day is on tap. Rain possible. Storms likely. Robert will be here by noon to help with the countertops. I'm off to take a test.

It must be June.

A visitor on one of the butterfly bushes in the shrub island.



Black and Blue Salvia has really exploded this week.



Queen Anne's Lace snuck up on me this year.



Self sown petunias still look good. They get lots of shade until late in the afternoon.



The first Rose of Sharon. Purple will be along shortly.



It's 88 degrees and sunny. It's freaking hot.

The Birds and the Bees.

The Goldfinches have arrived. I've seen a couple pairs hovering around the birdfeeder the past few days. They aren't content with the seed I've given them. They're ripping apart the rudbeckia blooms too. Notice the petals on the ground.



They attacked the poppy seed pods near the mailbox. I pulled those plants yesterday to collect about a 1/4 cup of poppy seeds. Not all are ripe, but I should have enough to make a nice display next spring. They will be sown in the fall.



The bees are downright dizzy. The purple blooming veronica by the front walk is always a favorite.



The dusty miller I planted last fall attracts all sorts.



They call it bee balm for a reason.



It must be June. Suicide is painless. Keep eating those Four O'clocks.



The butterflies will be here soon. We're ready.



It's 64 degrees. The high today will be in the low to mid 90s. No chance of rain.

Stunning.

Last night, I had guests over for drinks after dinner at the new sushi restaurant here in town. The food, as always, was excellent. The company was fantastic. We finished off the rest of the Washington Apple Martinis and took in the fragrances in the garden. The datura were still blooming this morning when I came home for "lunch".



The stunning part of the walk through the yard this morning uncovered this new daylily. It was another one brought to me by a customer at the store in exchange for something last year.



The butterfly bushes are just starting to break in the shrub island.



And the large rudbeckia that appeared last November stayed with me through the winter. It's blooming again now. The flowers are 6" across and when the petals are fully erect, it's something to behold.



It's 81 degrees and humid. The forecast shows another chance of rain this afternoon. The magnolias are blooming. The gardenias are budding again. There's squash and cucumbers forming in the upper potager. Life is good.

Foliage

On the front slope, there's an artemesia that was wintersown in 2008/9. It's probably 'Silver Brocade'. From tiny clumps, the artemesia has spread out across the dry, rocky soil. Small yellow blooms should arrive any day now. I've taken three cuttings to test propagation. If it roots, I'll take more cuttings in a couple weeks. This plant is extremely drought tolerant. The foliage remains through the winter.





Hosta and Aucuba.



Sedums in a container by the basement door.



In the shrub border, the butterfly bushes are doing well despite the lack of rain. The tallest one is up to my shoulder. I'm 6'1.



Euphorbia "Blackbird"



When I went to bed last night, there was thunder and lightning all around. Still no rain. The chance today is 60%. It's currently clear and humid at 70%.

A summer day in April.

It's still 92 degrees. I feel like the daffodils, dry and crispy.



It's not all bad. The butterfly bushes seem to be growing several inches a day. Finally, I've got butterfly bushes that don't sprawl out across the ground.



While planting some wintersown seedlings in the perennial bed, I pulled some clover to discover Jim's alstroemeria. It's the one with the variegated foliage.



I scattered seeds like a mad man today. I even tossed out some left over potting soil on a bare spot where I walk a lot. Grass seed went over it and I watered it in.



Scattered seeds include Salvia subrotunda, Four O'clocks, lemon basil, cosmos, zinnias, melampodium, and others I can't remember now. It's the heat. Yeah, that's the ticket. I did sow a few more containers. Basil Gonovese, Lemon lime basil, sunflowers (a wide variety from mammoth to red bloomers), Limelight four o'clocks, and a striped four o'clock I have never grown before. It's not as though I don't have enough to plant out already.



I tried to relax in the swing, but after an hour in the hammock, I'm exhausted. The meadow is over a foot tall. Larkspur, red clover, and many weeds make up the majority of the tall seedlings. Rudbeckia and bee balm have been spotted along with a few cosmos around the outer edges. I'm afraid what might be lurking in the middle of all that clover. I bet something that slithers has made itself at home.



I just can't believe how fast everything's growing these days. We haven't had rain in over a week. Thursday, we're supposed to have PM thunderstorms. I hope so. The pollen was so thick at times today, I thought I lived on a dirt road again. All my roses have buds, summer blooming perennials are shooting up flowerstalks, all the crape myrtles are leafing out now, including the white and red ones I started from seed last winter. It's incredible.

After the long winter, I was hoping for a gradual transition into summer. Not a chance of that now. We're running 23 degrees above normal today. As I sit here with the windows open, pollen covering me and everything inside, I can hear the leaves on the trees rustling in the wind. The houses on Brown Avenue are quickly disappearing thanks to the foliage. The stream has dried up. I'm filling the birdbath twice a day. Two crows came in for a drink while I was laying in the hammock the second time.

Maybe on Sunday, things will be cooler and I can plant out more seedlings. They're getting watered twice a day too. Some have succumbed to the heat already. But reseeds will fill the gaps and get moved as spring moves forward. Today, I found a batch of self sown nicotiana and datura. I think every seed that fell has germinated. Lucky too, I was about to have to head downtown to snatch more datura pods. But it's too hot.