Summer

Well, there has been a return to summerlike temperatures this week. Unfortunately, that has been balanced out with night time temperatures in the 40s. Brrr. Got to work cold, and come home baking. Ah, spring.

I have two flowers on the rhodie, both buried deep in the bush itself. You can see them if you look hard enough. Same color as the lamium flowers underneath.

The amaryllis is blooming. I really need to take pictures when the sun is at a better angle.

Millions of Millions of Bells

Well, I got the canoe out on the lake today. Saw a blue bird and a tiger swallowtail and two blue herons. It was a beautiful day. Wasn't out for long. There had been a lot of lugging that tired me out, but I wanted to get out on the lake.

I bought a purple million bells, and a peachy cross between million bells and petunia, and two six packs of petunias. I need to get out and plant them at some point. And take pictures. But not now. It's a spectacularly wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Sunny and warm all weekend. :)

Cold Shower Season

Yesterday, I stopped out to pick up sundries and was swayed to bring home some plants. A Roma tomato plant, to replace the previous seedling. Seedling was forgotten while hardening up, and did not exactly approve of cold temperatures, strong winds and deluges. *sigh* And true to form, I picked up a hanging basket of millionbells. Mixed basket of pale yellow, golden yellow and a pinkish red variety. :)

This morning, I mowed my back yard. The grass loves the rain. It even loves living in soupy soil. Unfortunately, that means that I created some muddy spots as water filled in my footsteps in places. *sigh* Hot out there too.

Yellow iris are open now, as are the white Tennessee variety. :)

National Ride Your Bike to Work Day

And what a day it is. Steady rain, flood watch, and lots of ponding due to saturated ground. Ah, yes. It was actually the kind of weather that encouraged traffic to slow down.

Still, despite being sick of rain and desiring several days of sun in a row, it is better than the alternative that seems to pop up most days occasions like this. Weather so sunny and hot that we slip into a bad air quality rating.

Mid-week Break

Well, we've got a break between the rain drops. Not too sunny, but not raining. It allowed me to get some more photos. Ignore the grass, it loves the rain.

First, some better photos of my iris.





Next up my Julia peony. The hybrid has a lot fancier leaves.



A close up of the bud on the Big Ben peony. This is as much for proof that it was willing to bloom the first year. The stalk with the other bud has died back. Not sure the cause. Doesn't appear to be affecting this one.



And then something dug out a huge hole in my garlic pot. I blame squirrels. I did fill it in after the picture.

Soggy Mother's Day

Well, the good news is the drought is ended. Of course, it ended with 5-8 inches of rain over five days, which isn't good for plants either. Lots of trees lost limbs or were uprooted. It also dipped into the 40s for the past two nights. Barely got into the 50s yesterday.

But, I do have plants blooming. In the house even! Snake plant is sending up more flowers. The amaryllis, despite having leaves up the entire time, has sent up a new flower stalk. And the red hibiscus has a bud.

Iris Among the Rain Drops

Not the best picture, but then this steady drip drip really defuses the light. Everything else washed out. *wink* The white Tennessee iris aren't all blooming yet for a count, and the yellow ones are a later blooming variety.

Iris count: 12 blue ones, 8 with the maroon edging.

Five Good Things

While I've been ignoring the back yard for a spell, a glance outside registered a bit of blue. My iris! I have five different stalks of blue iris blooming! Too bad the lighting wasn't right for my camera. I should get a new one. But five in bloom, with several more on the way.

Part of one of my peonies seems to have died. Might have been frost damage. Not sure. But there's still plenty of plant left.

Denial

I've been sulking for the last few days. And in a gardening quandry. Saturday, I was out cutting my front lawn, or rather the half that grew tall enough for a cut, when the neighbor came out to talk to me. The privacy fence in the back yard is leaning, worse, pulling out of the ground. I figured it was my landlord's, since the neighbor doesn't have privacy fencing. And I figured I could always insert a new post if things got from bad to worse.

But no, it's technically on the neighbor's land, and her responsibility. She wanted to see if I had a more direct route to the landlord than through the agency. I don't, but agreed to forward her complaint.

Eek. My garden. My prize peonies are against that fence. My sunflowers were supposed to be against that fence. Do I plant, or don't I? And will they crush my peonies before they bloom? *sulk* Maybe the landlord will prove unreachable.

When the Ants Come Marching In

So, I didn't see any frost this morning. It was above 40 degrees here. But still, I wore a heavy coat. *sigh* Stupid wind chill.

Last night when I was trimming the hostas so my tulips could get some sun, I noticed holes in the leaves. Slugs! This early! Eek! So, I sprinkled my organic slug treatment. I didn't see too many holes in the iris, so they might be safe this year.

And while I was out, I noticed two of my peonies have buds! Buds! I might finally have peonies that bloom this year! And one of them is the new one! Yippee!

True to Form

So, after a beautiful end of the work week, we had a weekend steeped in rain, with harsh weather on Monday. The cold front that worked its way though is leaving us with lows in the 30s and there's talk of spotty frost in suburbs further out than I am. The tomato seedling does not like the drafts at the window. :/

Crabapples and magnolias and wisteria are blooming in the neighborhood. Tulips are soggily coming to an end, except for the ones I tucked in the hosta bed late. Silly me, I thought they wouldn't put up flowers this year. I mean it was February when I saw the stalks and figured they needed to be in the dirt. I'll have to wack those hosta leaves back so I can see the blooms.

WFF When?

I got my tomato plant in the mail from White Flower Farm. I am not happy. Why am I not happy? It's not the packaging. It was well packaged, sturdy cardboard, no shaking around. It's not the plant quality. It's moist and happy with plenty of leaves. It's the fact that it showed up this week! I can't plant tomatoes out until the middle of May! I have to nurture this poor little seedling indoors for at least three more weeks! Eeep! I was trying to avoid seedling care! Ugh. But its a nice tomato and I'll do my best not to curse it.

The rest of my red tulips opened up. Very lovely, but not at all centerfold quality. ;) Squirrels got two more, but left enough stem to be put in water. The pink ones, 'Angelique', opened up. Again, lovely, but very rough looking. Iris are putting up buds. new daffodils are all different kinds. Some white with orange centers, some white with pale yellow centers and a few tiny white ones with white centers.

Oh, and I mowed my back yard today. It went wild after all that rain.