Wash, Rinse, Repeat

After those weeks of no rain in early May, I was wondering if we would ever break the cycle. Now, we've entered a new loop. The humidity from the previous day's rainfall forms new storm clouds which dump more rain the next day. As temperatures rise into the low 90s later this week, the chance of rain increases every day. There's no real end in sight with the next 5 days showing at least 20% chance, with 40% being the norm. Yesterday, another 1/2" of rain fell. Storms predicted this afternoon. The high will reach the mid 80s. It's 72 degrees, clear, and muggy.

My only blooming hydrangea seems happy. It's planted on the North side of the house and receives no direct sunlight.



Fragrant lilies purchased after Easter last year are blooming.



A new variety of cosmos is blooming. I'll be saving and scattering seeds to fill in the blank spots all summer.



Pink bee balm by the street is blooming. Carla's red bee balm, dug from my yard, is just starting to open. Mine is waiting.



The recent rains have sent the brugmansia into overdrive. All three returning yellow/orange plants from last year are about 2' tall. The leaves are getting large, just like last year.



There's a dehumidifier in the basement. I've got it running on a three hour cycle. The water is drying, slowly. Today, I'll be picking up the vinyl tile for the kitchen. I just finished some work for my former boss, giving me a little extra spending money. The white paint is sitting out waiting for me to get home from work this evening. I've already masked the edges of the small room off the kitchen. The plan is to have that much finished by the weekend.

Orange

Yesterday, I saw my first hummingbird of the season sipping from the red hot pokers near the street. Of course I didn't have my camera.



The lantana I overwintered in the basement is blooming. The original planting did not survive the winter.



The Knockouts are taking a break while the ditch lilies do their thing. I was wondering what it would be like to have orange and pink/red blooms together in this space. I guess I don't have to worry about that now.



California poppies have been flopping all over. I've yet to see a flush of blooms on upright stalks. I'll let them reseed though I have yet to find a seed pod.



Cosmos are blooming here and there.



Joseph's Coat?



Rosa chinensis.



A ladybug. I've been seeing a lot of them this year. I've not sprayed for insects this year. I see a few issues with the roses and some blackspot. We'll see how it works out when the humidity and temperatures return this summer.



It's 63 degrees. More rain passed through overnight. The high today should reach the mid 70s.

Who was I kidding?

I got up this morning, had some coffee, and went back to bed. The slow steady rain is still falling. It's 72 degrees. So that's the perfect weather for scattering seeds, moving reseeded annuals, and doing some general weeding in all parts of the yard.

I moved a few things into the upper meadow, like amaranthus.



A gazillion cosmos that were growing in the rose garden.



Perilla.



I planted out my 12 Salvia subrotunda seedlings. I replaced them with cuttings from Montauk Daisy, Salvia greggii, and a red mum that survived the winter.



Looking back towards the house from the gully, it's filling in with pokeweed and Virginia creeper. I'm okay with that, for the time being.



I also divided a few wintersown things that were planted out in big hunks. Ox Eye Daisy, that notorious weed, has been spread all over the Crape Myrtle Bed. I need more white in that spot. Not many of my cosmos seeds have popped up yet. Maybe after all this rain they'll do something.

I plan to spend the rest of the early afternoon weeding in the rain. I'll continue to move things here and there, filling in areas where seeds failed to germinate. There's a lot of crabgrass out there.

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.

It's too hot.

It's 84 degrees and the sun is baking everything. It's too warm to plant out as much as I had hoped. Many of my wintersown seedlings still aren't ready. I did put out some echinacea Harvest Moon, Columbine, Painted Daisies, and a few others I forget. The majority are just sitting there still. Maybe next week.



I did mow the yard again. The wild onions and clover were getting out of control. In the backyard, I found this little blue flowering thing. I'd love to know the name.



On the front slope, the violets have taken off.



Around the oak tree in the front yard, the Purple Queen is returning. All those little green sprouts are Dayflower. Ugh.



I did a lot of weeding in the perennial bed. It's presentable now. Along the privet hedge, I planted some ferns I collected from Robert's property yesterday. They're just starting to unfurl.



The red clover went into the upper potager bed.



I tilled it into the existing leaves and soil. There's still some cardboard that hasn't broken down. I also built teepee trellises for pole beans and put my metal trellis back up for the cucumbers I'll sow in a few weeks.



The long view.



I used UV safe nylon clips to finally attach the concrete wire trellis to the four posts. I've got plans for a few vines this year including Morning Glory.



Near the swing, I noticed cosmos seedlings. There are lots of datura seedlings too.



Self sown Four O'clocks are popping up in the Shady Corner. A few more weeks and I'll stuff that area with brugs. A few hydrangeas that were rooted last summer survived. No sign of the variegated one yet.



I've had a nap in the hammock and have the sunburn to prove it. I've eaten lunch and am thinking about dinner. I'd like to do some more in the yard, but there's laundry that is calling my name right now. I'm tired, ya'll.

Camellias, seeds, and cutting back.

It's a beautiful day. At 81 degrees, there's a nice breeze that keeps it from being too hot. The humidity has dropped significantly too. This morning, it was 58 when I left for work at 5:45am. I was actually chilly for a brief moment.

In the garden, I chopped back some of the coreopsis Full Moon. I hope to divide them again next spring. I turned one plant into 12 this past year. I now know they need full sun to remain upright and not flop. Lots of new growth around the base.



When I bought the house, this camellia was over 20' tall. You can see the big mass of green in this photo on the left. Yes, that was the backyard when I first saw the house.



Last year I tried to kill it completely. This year, I've let it regrow. Here it is today. It has pink single blooms all winter. I should have been more kind in my pruning.



Another butchered camellia is beneath the oak tree near the perennial bed. I first noticed this variation on one stem a few weeks ago. It's grown a little since then, and now I'm sure it's a variegation and not just from lack of water or disease. I'm hoping it blooms this winter. I'll be setting my sights on propagating this sport sometime in the near future. Imagine, a variegated camellia. In my yard. Heaven.





One of the three clumps of orange cosmos I've collected so far. Every day for the past week I've been gathering seeds from the rose garden plants. I'll be using these in my "meadow" garden next spring.



Another meadow candidate, salvia subrotunda. There are lots of tiny seeds still inside their shells. If I knew the proper terminology, I still wouldn't remember it.



Mauney's, a feed mill across from the high school on 52N, sold me 5lbs of crimson clover seeds. They've been inoculated against something so they're bright pink. That pen sticking out of them is used for scale. It's a hefty bag. Once the tree is removed from the back yard, I'll break up what soil I can and toss these out. They should put down some nice roots this winter and give me some organic matter to sow my seeds on in the spring.



Time to spend a few more hours in the kitchen. I hope to get the sanding done and install some beadboard. I hate plaster.

5:51pm - I was wrong about the variegation. Thanks Nell.

The most common fungal disease of camellia is known as virus variegation. The leaves have yellow or light green streaks. There is no cure, and the plant can live with the virus.

Down in the gully.

I took a hobble through the gully yesterday. This area was shaded by the large oak tree for several decades. Here's a sampling of what's popped up since the last weekend in July.

Lots of pokeweed.



Bindweed, Virginia creeper, and cannas. Now I know why one came up in the grass by the driveway.



Tree of heaven. LOTS of these.



And lots of mimosa seedlings.



And tomatoes? Yep. Several clumps. Next summer should be interesting as things grow back for sure.





I really like my cosmos. I wish I hadn't sown them where I planted roses.



Finally some ladybugs are appearing. The milkweed 10' away is covered with aphids and not a single ladybug in sight.



The pile at the end of the driveway is back to newly rooted cuttings and things I don't know where to plant yet.



It's cloudy and 75. Light sprinkles at 6am this morning. Rain in the forecast for this evening. Robert will be here around 3pm when I get home from work. I'm so ready to get started.