The first peony bloom.

Planted in early March, the peonies have been threatening to open for a while now. Of course, there's rain in the forecast for the next 3 days. Mother Nature wouldn't have it any other way.



Also blooming today...

wintersown dianthus


divided coreopsis "Early Sunrise"


wintersown nasturtium


Sad little red spider zinnias. Based on the pictures where I bought the seed, I expected large 2' tall plants with huge red blooms. Instead, these are about 8" tall with blooms smaller than a dime. So much for a huge red impact.


Daisy Gardenia. Smells so good and a much better performer than August Beauty.


Even the knockout roses and purple salvia I transplanted last week are doing well. I was afraid I'd kill the roses moving them this late, but the cooler temperatures have really helped them. More salvia is currently rooting in the cloning machine.


68 degrees and mostly cloudy. Overnight, rain should move in with more showers tomorrow evening. I've sown 7 packs of calendula seeds since Monday. My cleome and cosmos in the perennial bed haven't really come back the way I was expecting. Hopefully, these will give me some late summer color in that bed. I'll be moving the Thundercloud Plum and the Japanese Maple this winter. I might plant more knockouts in this area. Those plans haven't been finalized yet.

Back to work for another 4 hours. Tired, sluggish, and irritable today. I think it's due to waking up at 6:30 when I had to be at work by 7. Not enough coffee. Trying to remedy that now.