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.

Just shy of a ton.

That's what I brought home tonight on the back of my 2002 Ford Ranger. Yeah, I know. Spare me. It was 2 miles and I barely got above 20mph thanks to the old couple in front of me suffering from night blindness and my headlights in their rear view mirror. The mudflaps only hit the ground three times.

115 12" x 12" x 1-7/8" concrete pavers at 18lbs each sitting on a pallet in the back of my truck.




115 12" x 12" x 1-7/8" concrete pavers at 18lbs each sitting on a pallet in the driveway. It took 10 minutes to unload them all, two at a time. My back is killing me. I was hungry before. Now I'm famished.



It'll be a while before I am ready to actually lay the stones. I need to wait for colder weather to pick up the brick I plan to use in between some of the pavers. It's in the gully. The design will depend on what I can haul back out. Maybe it would be easier to just tear down the chimney no longer being used that runs from the basement to just below the roof sheathing.

The pavers are stained from spending the summer holding concrete planters and all the dirt in the garden center. Eventually, I'll power wash them. That will probably happen after they're laid in place. I don't think they'll be unstacked anytime soon. Not bad for $10.

To the Extreme

Years ago, when I owned a condo near Uptown Charlotte, red was my signature color. I planted Salvia splendens, red cannas, red petunias, and cardinal climber. These days, it seems I am infatuated by purple. So the question must be asked, when is there too much purple?

It started long before I painted the front door. Truth be told, the paint color was supposed to be "Rare Wine", a dark burgundy/maroon color. It's purple. And it screams at everyone that passes by when the sun hits it. I'm nervous about this winter when the oak tree out front loses its leaves. So what did I do? I planted more purple plants. There's the coleus by the front walk, the Blackie sweet potato vine I ripped out this past week, purple queen that will someday spill over the stones at the top of the bed, and heucheras in the front bed. They were $0.25 each, so I can't be completely blamed for that travesty. All summer, I've been very disappointed with that bed. It was dark and gloomy. The triple yellow datura is a plant that should be experienced from a distance. It was pulled weeks ago. I collected a few seeds, many of which molded.

This winter, I hope things change a bit for that bed by the front door. This morning, I planted my clearance Dusty Miller and pansies. We'll see if they have time to grow before our first frost. I'm probably a couple weeks late on getting these in the ground.

Before.



After.



From the driveway, these two beds are starting to work for me. I'm not sure what the orange daylilies at the bottom of the wall are going to do next summer. I assume they'll clash terribly.



I've got lavender, knockouts, and blue salvias planted with the blue grasses and white artemesia in the lower section of this bed. That orange is really going to look terrible, isn't it?



At the end of the run, there's the garage door bed. Last week I cut back and moved four knockouts. One is yellow, the others are red. I planted Jim's Pinks in this bed along the edge and threw in 7 leftover pansies this morning. They're white, blue, and purple (which is actually a viola, shhhh). I mulched and used the stone I dug out of the next area I'm about to show. Yep, all this stone came from digging holes to plant things in the back yard.



On Thursday of last week, the dog's grave made me change my plans for certain grasses I had also gotten on clearance. I divided them into smaller clumps and planted them on the slope where periwinkle and crab grass had been all summer. The tomato patch is to the left in this image. That'll most likely become a patio in the near future as the stones will be available later this week. Nine of the 15 ten cent asters went into this bed. Robert was back last night to pick up a few things and drop off one of my Ryobi batteries he grabbed after finishing the kitchen. He took home the other 6. What was I thinking? I really didn't need 15 asters.



I also planted two dwarf Joe Pye Weeds I got for $1 each. I tell you, this job is going to bankrupt me. Thankfully, I don't care much for pansies and that's about all we're going to have soon.



In another week or two, I plan to move the White Profusion butterfly bush. This is the one I purchased and the tag said it would reach 8-10' easily. It's in the area formerly known as the white bed. I'll move it to the sloped area formally creating a bee and butterfly garden. Next spring, more butterfly loving plants will be set out here as the seeds are wintersown. It'll make a nice backdrop for the patio.



In the meadow garden, red clover is taking hold. There's also a stray cucumber seedling in there. Uh oh.



Just across from the meadow, the crape myrtle bed is filling in nicely. I've planted out a few hibiscus, scattered lots of echinacea seeds, and planted more clearance plants over the past few weeks. It's a bed I don't pay a lot of attention to, but I expect it to be nice enough next year.



The pink blooming camelia that I'm allowing to regrow at the edge of the rose garden has a lot of suckers. I pulled off two that had roots attached and potted them. They're in the shade with the rooting sedums and pineapple sage. Those cuttings came from one that got ripped apart by last week's winds. They lost all their leaves, but are putting out new growth. Let's not forget I stuck 7 cuttings in the cloner from that plant too. I like this plant, can't you tell?





In the perennial bed, the black and blue salvia I got for $1 each are doing great. I hope they return next year.



Finally, it's Sunday. FlowerLady writes on her blog today,

Let the negative stuff roll off, straighten your shoulders, hold your head high, smile, and be thankful. Get out and do something creative, relaxing, meditative or fun.

I did.



It's 61 degrees and overcast. We got a little rain last night, but the areas under the trees are still dry. The forecast calls for 77 and sunny today. I've got my doubts.

2:28pm - Still no sunlight and only 2 degrees warmer. I've spent the last couple of hours at work, but came home for lunch. The 12" gray pavers are ready. I'll have them loaded onto the back of the truck and unload them this evening. There's 115 of them. $10 for the whole lot. WOOT!

The Cabinets are in.

I got up early and installed the last 5 kitchen cabinets this morning. The countertops are temporary. I'll wash all my dishes tonight and start figuring out where things will go. There will be empty cabinets when I'm done. I no longer have a matching set of anything that isn't chipped, dented, or scratched. Maybe Santa will remedy that.

Looking from the dining room



The behemoth is a lot more in scale now that the other cabinets are in place.



Temporary countertops cut from cheap cheap cheap wafer board. The laminate should be here by October 12, probably next week.



I should have inspected all the cabinets before installing them. Wouldn't you know, the one cabinet with a defect is the one I hung on the end. I may cover this with an end panel, or fix it with some glue, a clamp, and a lot of cursing.



I love the floors. I really hope I can keep them natural.



This afternoon's project...leveling out the future patio site. From what I've been told, the pavers (122 of them for roughly $10) will be available within 2 weeks. They're 12" x 12" and gray. I'm not thrilled with the color, but from previous experience, I know I can stain them. I'll be using brick from the gully and stones from all over to build a short wall and inlay between the pavers. It's going to be fabulous, next spring.



It's 61 and partly sunny. 20% chance of rain all evening and part of Saturday. I'm done in the kitchen for now. Carla is coming over this afternoon to give me suggestions on the walls. I didn't want to, but I have to use some sort of texture. The plaster is just too far gone where the old cabinets were. It'll drive me crazy seeing bumps and divots where I had expected smooth. We're thinking orange peel.

The Snake Pit

I'll get to the snakes later, but first a list of what I did this morning.

I built a compost bin. Sort of.



I put it in an out of the way place. I need two more regular sized pallets instead of those small 3/4 pallets.



I moved the crape myrtle. I know, I just couldn't stand it any longer.



I laid out a rough area for the recycled brick and concrete patio I plan to build this winter. I'm doing it now because I know I'll change my mind a few times during the process. It's inevitable. I can't wait to get rid of that dead oak tree. Three more weeks, we should be chopping it up.



I moved the pink brugmansia to the hydrangea bed. There are more brugs here now than hydrangeas, but that could change any day. They're rooted and ready to plant. Kongmansia has lost all its leaves again. If it survives the winter, good for it.



I planted a couple more white crape myrtles and mowed the front yard. That's where the snakes come in.

The snake pit. It's periwinkle and weeds. I thought I would like it, but this stuff is a thug. It's already 4' into the lawn and is just over a year old. I've got to get rid of it. I mowed it all down today.



The lawnmower claimed another victim. Don't ask me what kind of snake it was. I don't know. I don't care. It was a snake.



I'm looking for suggestions of what to do on this sloped bank. It's shady, gets about 2 hours of summer sun along the driveway and none along the street. It's dry, heavy clay and stone. Against the house, I have hucheras, gardenias, tea olives, knockout roses, lavender, artemesia, some grasses, and bluish salvias. I'm thinking shrubs would work well on this slope, but the mulching...oh the mulching.







Other items worth mentioning today:

Spider lily.



Miss Huff and Yvonne.



Just waiting for the seeds to ripen. It went quick this year.



81, mostly cloudy. A good chance of rain this evening and overnight. Muggy, again.