A to Z and things in between.

In my garden,

Agastache



Buddleia
Coreopsis
Datura
Echinacea
Foxglove
Guara
Helenium
Inula Grandiflora
Joe Pye Weed
Knifonia
Lirope
Monarda
Nasturtiums
Orlaya
Penstemon
Queen Anne's Lace
Rudbeckia
Salvia
Tradescantia
Ulmus
Veronica
Weigela
Xanthosoma (I cheated, it's actually Alocasia)
Yarrow
Zinnia



Yesterday afternoon, I was walking out the front door when I spotted something across the street. There's a huge pile of leaves out back of the rental house that's now empty. Poking up out of the pile, I saw huge leaves. I had to get a closer inspection. Are they bananas? They've got to be cold hardy. They still had red clay around their roots.



The fragrant bed is coming along nicely. The datura and four o'clocks open just as dusk begins to fall. The fragrance comes along shortly after.



Pink and yellow have joined the white. Zinnias are also planted here.



It's 77 degrees. The high today will reach the upper 90s. This weekend will be hot. I'm heading out of town. I need a break from the housework.

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.

Little surprises.

Every day, there's something new in the garden. If you were here, I'd spend an hour talking about the plants in the perennial bed. Another hour could be spent touring the backyard. The sweet tea would be cold and dark, just like Nell's. Mine probably has a little more sugar than hers.

The first tomatoes. These are Roma. Wintersown in early March.



A red blooming Four O'clock. I remember, years ago, when a power/light pole stood in the backyard just about where Mr. Lincoln lives now. I sowed these seeds and two tiny plants grew and struggled to bloom in the hard compacted clay beneath the pole. When the pole came out, the four o'clocks remained.



These yellow dayliles were offered in exchange for something I rooted or divided last summer. She didn't know for sure what they would be, but she was willing to part with them.



The same lady gave me this one.



Hilda brought me a clump of upright pointing elephant ears last year. They have curvy edges and can grow into huge clumps. At the Bojangle's restaurant here in town, they've got some in full sun that grow to more than 6' tall every summer. Mine were about half that last year.



The black stemmed elephant ear I planted in late winter has finally made an appearance. The black leafed ones rotted. They were soft when I planted them. I didn't expect to see them.



A brown/orange rudbeckia is blooming. These usually show up in the fall. Maybe this is one that overwintered. On a business trip in 2008, I stopped by a roadside plant stand in Delaware. I brought back a single plant called Autumn Colors. From those seeds, I've increased the varieties of blooms in the garden, with a little help from the bees.



Asters, purchased for 15 cents last fall, are blooming already. I spotted a white one this morning. This is the hot pink one. It's taller and less meatballish than the plants I purchased on clearance. I figured as much. I could cut these back I guess, but I won't. I have plenty that will be blooming in the fall.



Spirea, wintersown in 2008/9. I'll probably need to move this plant next spring. It should be in the shrub border. For some reason, I thought it was caryopteris. Obviously, it's a true spirea. It's nearly 3' tall.



Helenium is blooming too. I think this was labeled "Helen's Gold", but I could be misremembering.



Cherry Brandy Rudbeckia has made me rethink all the nasty comments I made about it to others last year. It was the color of dried blood. I wasn't impressed. Year two is much more Cherry. It can stay.



Second generation seeds were collected from Cherry Brandy last fall. They're blooming now. I think I'll keep them as well.





It's 72 degrees. I've finally decided to call a repairman for the HVAC system. It needs freon. I can't do that myself. I have a feeling, this is going to be expensive. When it's 94 degrees on Saturday, I'll be glad I spent the money. So will the cat.

Steamy Sunday

Another 1/2" of rain fell Saturday afternoon just as I was putting away the lawnmower. An hour later, the sun was out again.

The ditch lilies are still going strong by the front walk.



So are the rudbeckia in the perennial bed.



The first Four O'clock bloomed last night.



Monarda citriodora.



Black & Blue Salvia is blooming.



Three pink azaleas are way behind schedule.



The squash is right on time.



It's 72 degrees. The temperature is already starting to rise. By mid-afternoon, we'll be in the 90s.

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.