greenputterer's Blog

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day to be outside. 75 degrees and low humidity.  We were sitting on the patio when Hubby was saying how he hadn't seen a hummingbird in several days, and one whipped past him  and reminded him they are always there.  It is us who miss them when we are not outdoors getting some Vit D.  We both had to laugh at the reminder they provided.   As we puttered around doing odd jobs, the sun set. The serenity of dusk is a beautiful thing.  I can't really tell you which is more beautiful, the dawning of a new day or quiet time of dusk, both are special.  The air was calm, the scent of dew coming out, the peacefulness of the presence of God.  For us, the view across the street is everpresent.  The 16 doves eating on the driveway this a.m. were all tucked into the evergreens last night, waiting for the dawning of the new day. We enjoy the weather while it lasts, for soon the sleeps of winter will be up on us. Have a great day in the garden of your life. 

Fall can't be far off here...it was 35 degrees on the computer this a.m. sometimes we are cooler than the computer reading which is officially taken at a local airport 9 miles away.  The flowers love the cooler nights and bright days of fall.  It's the few tomato's that won't care for frost.  You know I have so enjoyed all the pictures people have shared this summer. We can't grow everything, and there are so many gorgeous flowers, shrubs, grasses to enjoy. Like yardgranny, it is so much fun to look at everyone's yards as you drive along. I love seeing the occasional white pine, large oak with nuts falling at it's feet, the intertwining grape leaves draping over bushes in the natural setting, and the sumac buds and red colors.  There is so much to see, so much to enjoy, I for one, am glad God was in charge of the garden plans.  Have a great new week in the garden of your life.

My perspective on life, is that it's better to be optimistic. But sometimes you get a week here or there (preferably there) that just doesn't muster up.  It's the little things, nothing big, that sneak in to peck at optimism.  Yesterday, as I was bringing the snow plow truck home (we may need it soon), I realized the gas tank was on E.  Well, as it's 7 miles back into the village for gas, not a good option. I'm not sure what happened to the quarter tank of gas that was in it when it went into the shop 7 miles down another road.  Earlier this week as I was trying to read and update myself on the GG site, there was a fat frog from Sprint (yes YOU at Sprint) and a fat warbler on the site. Would you believe that after waiting 20 minates 3 different times for the fat frog to eat his bug and the burping warbler to sing his song,  I never did get on site that day.  I would like to take the fat frog, sprinkle him with Mrs Dash and serve him on a tin platter to the CEO at Sprint.  Maybe I could add the 5 fat grasshoppers that were on one light red tomato and put that on the platter as a side dish.  Instead...I grab the spray bottle of ammonia water and go out and spritz any slugs that are chomping on the flowers.  We won't go into the rest of the week. Just suffice it to say, that I for one am keeping Mum at the wailing wall.  It was cold, dark and quiet out there tonight taking this picture, but maybe if I pray there with a better frame of mind, the next week will go smoother.  Have a great week-end in the garden of your life.

These 2 plants came up volunteer, and hubby carefully mowed around them. He likes the suprise of guessing what color will they be. The lavender one opened first, then a couple of weeks later the rose colored one opened. At first I wasn't sure that these were 2 colors I would put together. But as the days go by, they really grow on me too.  There tones are similiar, they seem to relate to each other. Some of the glads in the back are putting on buds finally. It's getting late, so if we don't get frost to soon, we should enjoy them.   My neighbor across the street has no ripening tomato's either. Yesterday I shared most of the ripe ones with her.  Out of 26 plants, we won't have enough to can, but too many to eat.  Like Mitzi, I enjoy the autumn days that are coming, but dreading the winter, it seems to be so long.   I am planning a blue bed in the planter, on the left of the 4 o'clocks next summer. Hopefully, with the right mix, I will have something in bloom all summer, will have to wait and see how that turns out.  Thank you all for including Ma in your prayers, may God bless you all. Have a great day in the garden of your lives. JJ

Well finally enough tomato's are ripening so we enjoy them with our meals. Fresh out of the garden tomato's are one of our favorites.  Next year I need to do something for a cold frame and just start them earlier, I guess. We try to not take on more chores than we can manage. No use living in a hurried huff and being impatient. 

We have been the 85 miles one way to town, 6 days out of the past 7 days. Hubby's  ma broke her hip and fell a week ago. She is at home, no surgery wanted, with 24 hour care. She will be 93 next month. She is a fighter. She has been through this before and works hard at her exercises and compliance with her plan of care. If you have a moment, say a prayer for her too.

I picked her only ripe tomato for her to eat. They set it on her tray and she won't eat it. She says, "I just want to look at it". That is fine, it provides a lot of memories of all the gardens she planted, picked, canned. I take other tomato's in for her to eat. 

Last night, it was late to mow, the dew was coming out, so I quit, and hubby will finish the mowing today. The flowers are beautiful this time of year. Huge and full of blossoms.  Bright spots of red, yellow, white, burgandy, pink and white.  More light fog this a.m. and the flowers love the humidity and the cool nights.  Like all of you, there is much to do in the yard now. Stretch and bend, stretch and bend, all this deadheading to attend. Down the flower rows we go, stretching and bending, exercise makes the skin aglow.  O.K. All together now....have a great day in the garden of your lives.

Definately some gradual change in the weather lately.  At 48 degrees the tomato's need to get with the program.  We are having our first 4 tomato's today. Taking them into town to share with Ma. Her tomato's haven't turned yet either.  She will enjoy the fresh taste as much as any outing this summer. 

Yesterday we went to a Veteran's outing to do some practice safety shots for a veteran's hunt. The funniest thing happened at the range. We were standing line, a couple of veteran's were shooting and this turkey came running through the range,  wondering what all the noise was about. It was kinda funny, all these hunters practicing for their deer hunt, and no one could shoot that turkey. We all had a good laugh, the turkey got the final laugh.

We saw a lot of wild turkeys out feeding yesterday, no camera of course. About 50 in different groups of 4-6, a few singles,  5 jakes standing on the road, we had to stop for them to turn around.  Lots of geese feeding in the harvested fields. Nice day to be out and about to see fall color starting. Lots of the sumac turned brown, due to the drought. Usually it is bright red. Very pretty plant. Does have lots of seeds on the tops.    Have a great week-end.

Rain, beautiful rain.  I love the lightening when it lights up the sky's. I love the drum roll of thunder. Then on top of it all we got 2.5 inches of rain yesterday.  5.02 inches in August  so far.  We couldn't seem to get a drop all summer, and now heading into fall, we are getting this lush rain for the grass and trees.  Wonderful,  no doubt with south winds for a week, this is a result of the hurricane. So we gladly take the leftover rain.   The petunia's were smashed into the ground, so they were pulled up yesterday to give the lupine some air. It's been coddled long enough and next year it should show it's stuff.  I started it from seed.  The plants I put in did poorly.  After some reading, I realized it needed some innoculent, like the beans.  OK, I  have a lot to learn, but the plants did pick up after their innoculent treatment.  There is always something to do in the garden. Therefore, I must be about my business. Witt, hubby said you did a fabulous job on the doily. He is a very patient man, and he said you must have spent a lot of hours on it. He is always interested in what others are doing, when I mentioned it. He said his aunt in Canada used to do that and he wanted to see what yours looked like. He said lots of young people don't know how to make something that nice, keep up a tradition, they don't know what they are missing or looking for. But if they learn how to garden, they will at least be able to feed themselves.  Have a great day, all of you.

Wow,  a sunny place to rest. I get to so tired flying around, checking out all the bright colorful flowers in these gardens that the human beings plant.  When I rest on their flowers, I get pollen and nectar stuck onto my feet, and you think your feet need washed !  It's not an easy job, but it was assigned to us by our Father, and we do this job willingly.  The human beings water the flowers, but they don't do a very good job of pollination, so we do that for them. There are some things they don't  do very well, even though they have all this knowledge about what needs done for plants. Well, I must move on, there are a lot more flowers to check on today. Rain in the forecast and that washes all the food away too.

Sitting in the garden, always brings a sense of peace. The bees are always busy, collecting their food for winter, the colorful monarchs glide around looking everything over, the dragonflies fill their stomachs with mosquito's. Sometimes swallows flit overhead, catching mosquito's and chittering at each other. We had a nice rain in the night, I can almost hear the root vegetables growing. The air smells like new washed earth. The shade trees give off a sigh of relief with their freshly washed leaves.  It didn't just grow, of course, it all needed to be tilled, planted, tended, watered, pruned to get to this stage.  But even the work gives one a sense of accomplishment, exercise, food, shade and peace. It also helps one feel grounded to an area, with a sense of belonging.   Life on the other side of the trees is a vastly different story.  What they can't see is that what they are seeking, is already there,  at their feet.  May you all have a very blessed day.

Tis a cool summer day here at 70 degrees, the humidity is 83%. Maybe rain, maybe not. Maybe sun, maybe not. The hot weather that 3G sent this way up and slipped away. She did come closer than the weather man for providing some summer this year, it was 4 days worth, so thank you. Hubby says this is the day the Martins leave for Capistrano. Also a feast day in some churchs.  If that doesn't move us into Indian summer, not sure what will.  Things look pretty normal around here, the doves are squabbling over seeds in the driveway.  Seems like really good day to do some deadheading in the coolness of things. Have a great day all, in the gardens of your lives.

Here we have some north sided color.  In the spring, I place the impatien plants in for early summer color. In the bottom picture, you can see the 4 o'clocks  planted behind the impatiens that will provide some fall color. The 4 o'clocks on the north side are just starting in for this year, where on the east side and in the garden they are in full bouquet about 2 1/2  to 3 feet tall.  I use them to fillin between evergreens. The evergreens provide some winter color or until they get covered up with snow, which happens to after several snow layers. 68 degrees and heading for a very humid 95 degrees this day, then tomorrow it starts to cool off again.  Will have had 4 days in the 90's this summer. Our summer average day time temp this year must be about 74-75. I still have to find a red tomato as well.  Take care and have a great day in the gardens of your life.

"NO trespassing, this is my garden, these are my friends", this sunflower seems to be saying.  There he is spreading pollen all over, can you just imagine the sunflowers that might be there next year!  Give some flowers an inch and they take over, can't say I wasn't warned by Mitzilou that this might happen.  Okay, but I planted some potato's out there behind him,  guess I will have to sneak in from the back to dig them.  70 degrees this a.m. and heading for 92 if the fog ever clears. Very humid for around here.  Like Carolyncat says, we would melt in the humidity of the deep south.  I spent a summer in Alabama one year with an aunt, and barely lived to get north to tell about it.  Bless heart, she was known as the flower lady,  planting flowers in front of a library the latter years of her life up here in the north.  Her gardens were always full of flowers, along with the vegetables. Just wanted to put a little sunshine out there in your day.

60  degrees this am and very humid. Not foggy like yesterday, but heavy dew all over everything.  It keeps the plants doing well, living off the dew in places.  My sister in law said her grandchildren all start school today. We just started summer up here.  In the 90's this week or at least upper 80's.  Nice grilling weather, don't need heat in the house.  The weather makes us feel blessed. Yes, Carolyncat, we really do live where it's cold. Further north lots of nights get between 30 and 50 below actual, then you get wind chill on top of it. So summer is a blessing. You can't imagine the heating bills up here, and people gripe about $100 water bills in places south.  But you know, I feel blessed, we don't deal with hurricanes, although we do have lots of wind  from them.  I call it blueberry weather.  The  heat ripens the berries.  When I was little, my grandfather lived in Fla. When the hurricanes were coming in, he boarded up his house and drove north. He would stop in WI and MN and pick a few buckets of blue berries for my mom to freeze. The wind was always hot and wild. It ripens berries, cures hay, and reminds children that summer is passing way to fast.    I feel blessed not to have to clean up peach jelly rascalsmom, but then  we don't make delicious peach jelly up here either, so you are blessed.  I bought a lug of peaches a few days ago, so we have been eating them for dessert.  Every area of the country has some special bounty to store up.  I have a few cherries left to pick today that finished ripening on the branches. Enjoy the blessings around you.  Have a great day.

Cool and foggy this a.m. @ 54 degrees. One of the things about gardening, that I enjoy, are the end results. Flowers are nice, landscaping is nice, but in the cold depths of winter, food is what counts. Like mudpies said, C prefers growing things that are eatable and I fully understand that.  There were only about a third as many bush cherries this year as last, results of the drought no doubt, as there were lots of blossoms and bees about.  Bush cherries are somewhat smaller than bing cherries overall.  A couple of years ago, I found them to be about the same size.  The flavor is sweet and scrumptuos.  A bit of wild chokecherry flavor in them as well.  So in the depths of a winter day, snow flying around the eves, and a kettle of stew simmering,  I will drag in a quart of the bright red berries for bit of cheer. Bake some bread.  It doesn't get any better than that when it's 20 below zero.  Have a great day.

Moss Roses are finally coming into their cheerful mode appearance. My father used to plant these in a bed in front of our house when I was little. I love all the colors. The top ones come back around this old rock, it's so heavy it was pushed over here when the house was built and it lies there still beside the potting benches. They seem to like the heat rocks gather in the daytime and radiate at night. I love their old world order look, succulent little plants that do well in heat. They don't like wet feet. You can tell when the leaves are shrinking that they need water, but they need good drainage too.  They do well in the dry garden here.  So with that, I bid you all a good day, with all the peace a garden can provide. 

Ah the garden in full bloom time of year.  Vegetables are ripening, flowers are filled in around the edges, the mornings are cool, I think all is well in the garden.  I did find the Cosmos seemed to tower over all the flowers and I pruned heavily to set them to the back in their royal thrones. Now these jaunty bishops and rooks can attend to their business. They help keep bugs at bay in the garden, so they make great perimeter flowers. I have read they are a medicinal plant, but I use them for color, sturdy plants that they are. Serious deadheading also helps them branch out.  I usually plant the petite seed, but this year opted for larger flowers in a large yard. I love the little petite red/brown ones with the yellow though.

Sunny today 60 degrees and heading for 80.  Had  .25 of rain yesterday morning. Nothing like the 4-5 inches they got a few miles to the east of us. Not our time yet.  Lots of spring wheat harvesting around, so maybe it's best not too much rain this week.  There was 12 doves waiting on the line for their breakfast this a.m. Two of them are a larger kind not usually seen this far north. They came last year and have stayed. Usually there are 4 of them.   Have a great day in the garden of your lives.

Oh how I enjoy the crisp zip of zinnia's.  They can look cool as a cucumber, or flashy as festive sunflower. They add much cheer where ever they stand and grace us with their presence. Mine stand in line amongst the cosmos, taking their bow like no one else is present. It's a tall wild mix the package said. Tame as a new born lamb I say. A couple of nights ago, I was looking at them, taking pictures, minding my own business, and I got buzzed. As I stood there with my mouth agape, a hummingbird, buzzed me good within a foot of my left ear, like what are You doing in MY garden. Before I could raise the camera in my hands, which was already on...he buzzed off without a word of thanks for planting these for me, or a bye your leave.

Today we had  1.75 inches of wonderful rain. More than we had all the month of July !  It's still cloudy and cool at 68.  After the wind blew a couple of hours, I decided that mowing could not wait another 3 days.  So riding around in the cool of the day, grass blowing every which way, I still may have to rake some of it up.  The grass was in shock after so much rain.

I weed whacked the tops off the strawberry plants 2 days ago. Yesterday, I removed about 75 plants and soaked them for about an hour in a 5 gallon bucket of water with a bit of clorox in it, to kill any bugs and fungus. Then last night I planted them.  After the rain this morning, they look really good, all have put out a new leaf or two by this afternoon. Hopefully they will root well before winter.  One year the plants sent to me by a catalog were so late in coming, we had snow on the ground. Needless to say, they all winter heaved and didn't survive because the roots didn't have time to settle in. So as you all know, do what is best for your garden zone.  Have a great week-end in the garden of your lives.

We are well into the green apple days of summer.  I heavily pruned most of the apple trees last year. Not so many apples this year.  This Harlson is about 7 years old. Just coming into it's early producing years. It had about a dozen apples last year. Nice firm pie apple and good keeper. I do have sweet apples, but most don't have many apples this year, this being their off year. I still water all of them. The other trees are making buds and branches for next year. The trees behind the apple are across the alley, and neglected, but the land is not for sale or I would have planted and cleaned it long ago. It would make a lovely nature park. It makes for a nice quiet area.  48 degrees and heading for 72 again today. The 80 degrees they promised yesterday turned into a high of  72, and that was the warmest part of the day,  just before sundown  when the wind went down. Most of our day time temps are in the high 60's for much of the day.  The root vegetables are doing great. The flowers seem to like the dry cool days as well.  The apple trees certainly like the weather.  Great working outside this summer. The city is kind and sprays for mosquitoes, due the west nile virus thing.  Makes being outside really nice. Have a great day all you.

This has to be my favorite late summer flower. Their little skirts swirling as they dance over the leaves. Probably hubby's favorite too.  He always mows very carefully past them.  I like all the colors, each one setting off each other color.  The magenta one has to be a favorite, but it is more brilliant in color only in comparison to another flower. The plain white flower alone is gorgeous. Then you notice a red one, then the striped one jumps out at you and on it goes as you look at them. There are several volunteer seeds amidst my garden as well, and I carefully weed around them in the spring, then lay down the mulch.  They bring such a sense of heaven on earth in the garden for me.   49 degrees this a.m. heading for 80 today.  I looked out the window this a.m. and 10 doves on the line over the evergreens, waiting for their breakfast.  Such a lovely troup to watch feeding, yellow and red finches flitting amongst them for color.  Bright like the 4 o'clocks.  Have a great day, each of you. JJ

Shades of green is a hobby, I do for my pleasure. In the bone chilling depths of winter when the wind is blowing and it's 30 below, well, we can always look at a nice summer picture. It really helps to cheer the soul, something to look forward to again, and then we don't mind so much the long sleeps of nature.  My father used to sit in the morning, drink his coffee and spend a time just looking out over the pastures.  We would say "dad what are you looking at". "I am resting my eyes".  He told me "if you are tired it is something to remember, just look at something green."  Put your eyes on (trees, lawn, pasture) for awhile and you will relax and feel more rested.  I love the beautiful flowers, they are a delight to the eyes, mind and heart. But sometimes we need to just rest. People that camp out know this, the need to get close to nature, it makes for a quiet, happy and restful soul. So as you go about the gathering of pictures of all the beautiful flowers, don't forget something green.  Have a great day.

Wow, it's nice to get watered, but does she have to give us a haircut too? About the time my feet (leaves) get down where we can move our selves around, she comes after us with those sharp scizzors of hers and gives our red curls a hair cut.

We had  (point) .28 of rain last evening.  Watered things nicely. Every precious drop of it. Not enough to take us out of the drought, but nice indeed for about half hour.  Still going down as the driest summer and coolest summer on record as of Aug 1.  50 degree the past few mornings at sunrise. 

The four o'clocks are taking off and the moss roses are finally starting in.  Usually they are much earlier than this. Very nice to look at this time of year. The birds have arrived for breakfast on the driveway,  need to go bake some cinnamon rolls.  Have a great day all.