Rainy Day. It's Monday.

It's raining. It's Monday. I'm not down. It's been too long since we've had rain. Right now, it's a nice gentle rain falling. It'll turn into storms before the afternoon is done. The line of storms is moving Northeast at a steady pace. I hope it rains all day. It's 77 degrees.



It always rains just as the peonies come into full bloom.



Mr. Lincoln is really impressing me this year. I had a few blooms like this last year, but only one at a time. I love this plant.



Massive.



Lagerfeld smells great. The pink coloring disappears as the blooms open to a silvery lavender.



The pink hybrid tea is impressive this year too.



My first strawberry.



Beans. I need to redo the teepee poles I set up for these. All of them are leaning due to high wind yesterday. I need to lash them together with some horizontal bamboo poles. I have plenty left.

The tomatoes are in.

48 plants went into the lower potager beds this afternoon. Here's Granny Cantrell.



The peonies are about to pop. These will be red. I also have pink.



The orange rose is ready to bloom. Yes, I have aphids. No, I don't spray. The ladybugs are here. I might hose them off with a jet of water at some point.



The 6th Street fig is doing well.



All that's left besides a container of hosta, 4 6-packs of impatiens, and some tree/shrub varieties still in the shade. I even planted out some Cornus florida today. 54 of these containers hold sunflowers for the upper meadow and butterfly slope between the potager beds. Others have 6-packs of pineapple sage, petunias, and celosia. I'm hoping to get them all planted by the end of the week. The long boxes in the front are my window box planters. I put them inside the wood boxes I built last year. I'm waiting to make sure I have plenty of growth before moving them to their permanent location.



The rain tonight will probably stay north of us. It's 72 degrees and clear. Great day.

Daffodils and muscari

I spent most of the day planting bulbs. It's currently 69 degrees and, um...breezy. It feels like spring. I had 400 daffodils to plant and 150 muscari, or so I thought. Here's the final tally, so I can be disappointed in the spring when nothing comes up.

Daffodils:

* 200 on the front slope
* 100 scattered in the shrub island, rose garden, and around the lilac.
* 35 in the shady corner where a frost killed brugmansia still stands.
* 33 around the legs of the swing.
* 35 behind the upper potager/hoophouse.
* 6 in the neighbor's corner.

That's more than 400, right?

Muscari:

* 90 on the front slope.
* 10 along the backyard fence
* 60 in the crape myrtle bed.

Yes, I can add. Along with the bulbs I planted last year in the perennial bed, the bulbs that pop up here and there, planted by someone else years ago, and whatever spring flower plants I may or may not have, it should be a colorful time in the yard in just a few months. Christmas is just around the corner. Then there's New Years Day. I'll be busy all through January sowing and planting out early sprouts from my wintersowing. In February, it'll be really cold for a couple of weeks. Then there's my birthday. Peas will be planted in the lower potager about that time. Next thing you know, it'll be spring. It's like 2 weeks, tops.

I also spent an hour moving pavers from the driveway to the hoophouse. I laid down cardboard then three 16' long rows of pavers. These will heat up a little during the day and radiate heat back at night. At least that's the plan. They might not be thick enough to really warm up. Still, the roots of tender perennials not yet sown should be okay once it's closed up.



I've got a few left. The ones in the hoophouse will be stacked to create a couple of resting spots in the backyard when the hoophouse comes down. I'll reuse them again later. The patio idea is on hold indefinitely for now.



The front slope area where periwinkle was killed. Here's where I planted the majority of the bulbs.



I found a few sprouting daffs in a spot I thought would be perfect for some spring flowers. Guess I was right.



I collected moonvine seeds from the back of the house. I was surprised to find 8 seed pods. I don't recall seeing but a couple blooms all summer. Must have been while I was laid up with my leg.



Mr. Lincoln.



The "orange" rose.



Sunny Knockout.



After all this, it was time to have a sit...



and watch the clouds race by.



It's still 69 degrees. A gorgeous day.

I guess someone will be expecting me in Atlanta soon, and a bit further Southwest after that. I'm not sure my back can handle another 200+ bulbs.

A good day.

Today was my second day in a row off from work. When I have two days off, I always feel compelled to make the most of it. Yesterday, with the rain, I spent my day in the basement up to my elbows in dirt and cuttings. Today, I was outside.

I got the swing leveled by digging holes for the front support posts. I cut off the extra chain that annoyed me when it *tink tink tink'd* against itself. I did collect some leaves and mulched them for one of the lower potager beds. I drilled more holes in the timbers and hammered some rebar. I took more cuttings and stuck them in the cloner. (I know, right?) I cut down some of the frost damaged annuals, pulled others and tossed them, seeds and all into the gully. I sorted and packaged another trade envelope that arrived this morning. I paid the power bill. I took the stovepipe down in the basement and cleaned it out. I cussed a lot trying to get it back in place. I spent some time online doing research for the plants I haven't grown yet, but have seeds for. I drank some coffee. And some sweet tea. By 3pm, I figured the gully had dried out enough to split some wood. Forty-five minutes later, I had split three logs. I was out of gas. The splitter was not.



I spent the next 30 minutes watching the sun travel low across the sky. It was a pretty nice way to end the day. I tried not to make notes of all the things I plan to do this winter and next spring. I can't even sit still without considering what I could do to make it better. Click to embiggen.



I got up to check on the fire I had built in the heater when I came inside to grab the camera. I couldn't help but notice all the things I did like.

Little bluestem glows in the late evening sun.



Mr. Lincoln might just open again before the cold, wet weather arrives on Saturday.



A single pink rose was pointing straight up.



Passing through the gate, the redtwig dogwood begged for attention.



A lady bug was sunning itself on the other side of the fence.



Another camellia bloom has opened. Lots more to come.



The neighbors drove past while I was bent down to examine something in the perennial bed. I'm not sure they know what my face looks like. I decided it was time to head inside. It's 71 degrees in the basement, 68 upstairs, and 61 outside. Last night, as the temperature dropped to 37 outside, it was nice and warm upstairs with just the central air fan circulating warm air from the basement. I'm hoping when the cold weather arrives that I won't need to run the electric heat except as a backup. I need my money for more dirt, seeds, and plants.

It was a perfect day. You're gonna reap just what you sow.



It's time for dinner, a shower, and some laundry.

I miss my shadow

It's another dreary, cloudy day here in NC. Overnight, it rained again. It wasn't much, but the ground that was soggy is now fully wet. Walking across the lawn leaves depressions. On the other hand, we're less than a month away from reversing the tilt into winter. Solstice will be here before we know it. The last of the fall color in the backyard is gone. The only remnants are the leaves covering everything that stands still.



Not everything is so bleak. Morning glories in the wild are still blooming. This one has entangled itself with the elaeagnus.



The orange rose is still blooming too.



These buds probably won't open with frost in the forecast for Friday night.



Up the street, Calycanthus floridus is still green and golden. I have several of these planted in the shrub island that I wintersowed last year. The largest one is about a foot tall.



Sweet gums are still dark red. I should try to locate some seed pods for the gully when I go home tomorrow for Thanksgiving. They grow all over the place at my parents' house.



Speaking of the parents', my mom wants two Leyland Cypresses for her yard. I planted these along the fence earlier in the spring. They need to be moved, so I'm taking them to her. Tomorrow is also her birthday. I bet she thinks I forgot.



Miss Huff (probably not) is lonely without Yvonne's salvia. With so many unripened seeds on the Salvia, I cut it down this morning and brought the flowers into the basement to dry. I won't trade seeds from this batch, in case they aren't viable.



Cold weather is on the way. I need to find a day to get out back and collect more firewood. There's plenty to be had. I just need to split it with the gas powered log splitter. Waiting for a cold day. Things that slither could still be moving under all that greenery.



For all of 5 seconds, the sun tried to peek through the heavy clouds. Then it disappeared. If the forecast is right, we should see some sunlight before it sets tonight.

Potting up, planting out, and things that bloom.

It's Sunday. Another month and I can create the full year of pictures. The circle bed feels very empty without the Thundercloud Plum.



Oh, what to plant here?



Some pictures were taken yesterday. Like the dianthus pinks maiden that are blooming again.



The "orange" rose.



Mountain bluet



And a camellia. I thought this was C. japonica, but it's got to be sasanqua, right? Where's Nell?



I planted a few plugs of Little Bluestem in the meadow garden. I hope it does take over.



7 lantana cuttings got potted this morning.



Two white, 5 Miss Huff. I'm starting to think the seeds I got were mislabeled. Miss Huff is supposed to be sterile. So maybe this isn't Miss Huff after all, but another lantana. That's fine. I like the flowers.



I've spread some broken bags of mulch on the rear bed where I pulled out ivy yesterday, half price and all. I'll spend most of the day today raking leaves in Larry's yard and shredding them. I'll be mulching the north beds where hosta, ferns, and cherry laurels live. I'll scatter a little here and there around the house too. I think I may just use the lawnmower to collect them into rows. There's a LOT of leaves out there in his yard.

It's 48 degrees with a high of 78 in the forecast. A bagel and coffee before heading out.

1:13pm - I've collected and bagged 3 sacks of leaves from Larry's yard. The sack is a queen sized bed sheet folded in half and sewn together. I put one against the stone wall on the north side of the house. The other two were spread in the back yard behind the upper potager and over the mulch I spread this morning. I just think it's more consistent looking.



While cutting the grass (mulching leaves), I noticed that I have defined edges. I like edges.





The high has been raised to 84 degrees. It's 72 and sunny.