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couple of humid sweaty hours cleaning out and dead heading the plants this morning. You really feel as if you are melting into your socks. The blackeyed susans that I trimed will come back as will the cone flowers.
The squash plants were kaput so I pulled them up. Sure hope next year to grow them more successfully on a fence of some kind. Will be doing away with the make shift raised garden and going to growing plants in a vining fashion. PIcked four more tomatoes and pulled a few onions.
Found lots of Virginia Creeper vining through everything in the big bed. It is a mess in there. This fall must be the time to really clean out that area. Want to take down a small dogwood tree in order to get more sun to the back side of this bed. Some plants just lean so far out to the sunshine they begin to lay on their plant companions.
My Rose of Sharon shrub is blooming nicely. A neighbor around the corner has three nice ones I want cuttings from. One is a double very light pink, a single white and the bluish color with the red eye. This couple have not lived in this house long and they have done a remodel of the inside as well as the landscape. It looks so much nicer than when it was a rental property. One day I will knock on the door and talk garden shop with them.
The Red Rocket Crepe Myrtle is beginning to bloom and is it every pretty. I am so pleased and my DH is so glad it did not die. He worried so over it last year. But now the worries are over, it survived the extra freezes and is doing great. Will post a photo when it is further out in bloom.
This is not my favorite time of year for the gardens. So many things have quit blooming and others are just getting ready to do their thing. The Angel Trumpets at the side of the house are full of buds so in another few weeks the yard will take on a different look. The Mexican Petunias and Mexican Sage are ready to bloom now and the Cuphea plants are dancing away in the gardens. Seems like this time of year is the purple stage with some yellow.
My Zinnias are blooming really well but I am not happy with the pinks. There are a couple of large Zinnias in red and orange and a yellow that are nice and I will save some seed from them. Looking forward to planting some large snapdragons and lots of pansies in this area by October. Color is wanted for this little spot where we get in and out of the car.
Speaking of the car ;-( the air conditioner went out in it this past week. I had to drive it one day to a doc appointment and thought I would die even with the hot air blowing from the open windows. A big thank you to the little truck as the sale of it paid for the AC in the car. The cool air is blowing and is much appreciated though it cost a bundle. The Compressor now has a lifetime guarantee, just wish it had had one when I bought it.
Some of you remember RKayne - well they are absolutely miserable in the Washington and Oregon region right now. She says she is truly melting. They don't ever get heat like this in the part of the country very often and certainly not for the long a period. So for those of you that live in that area I will think cool cool thoughts for you.
More To Come Later
Harley our GG friend sent me some AV leaf cuttings which I rooted in water. The old standby method of putting tinfoil over a small jar, making a small hole for the leaf stem and letting them sit in the water until they have a good root system going. I have never tried starting them in soil. And the water works for me.
I have never had a variegated leaf before so I will be watching that one closely. I have set them on stones and will water them that way. When I first placed them in the container I let them sit on the bottom and soak up some water. Then I moved them up onto the stones so they will not stay too wet. Wish me luck.
I have been getting some maters, way too many cukes and a few squash. Here is the last picking and there are more maters ripening on the vine. Squash not doing well and the Cherokee Purple tomato wants to spit and rot before I can get them off the vine, then they don't last long in the house. Mighty tasty though.
It was fun to be outside under my little shed lean-to potting up my AV's. The morning was nice and a breeze was blowing. I could hear the bees humming and birds a chirping - all was right with the world.
More To Come Later
kept me out of the gardens for the most part. I go out as early as I can to do a few maintenance things. Cut back some unruly plants and did some deadheading one morning. Have been getting cucumbers and tomatoes the last couple of weeks and even a few peppers. At lunch today we had those three plus some cornbread. Yummy.
I have switched this evening to Firefox as Internet Explorer seems to be experiencing some problems staying awake. Drives me crazy. This Firefox has been speeding right along. So I am glad I downloaded it just for this reason.
Had a visit with some gardening friends and came home with a large bag of freshly picked Blueberries. They are so good. My few small bush type BB's were eaten by all the critters that think they own my gardens. Really since they spend more time there than I do, this might be true.
The hummers have been buzzing about from one flower and feeder to the other. Once in a while I will spook up the bunny but this year they are not out and about as much. I miss being able to just sit and watch them scurry about.
I did something this afternoon I have not done in ages, went for a Manicure. It was wonderful. My nails have actually had time to grow over the last few weeks. I figured since I had them and had managed not to break any of them off I would just reward myself. You all should try it, yes you guys also. The hand and arm massage alone is worth it.
There was a bad wreck yesterday just at noon at one of the close by intersections. A large red pick up truck had gone head on into a utility pole and cracked it in half. Someone said the person had experienced a medical problem but that he was OK. The traffic was backed up and the side of the intersection that we use was blocked off. We had an appointment and when our power suddenly went out we decided to just go ahead early. The accident was what knocked it out. You never know when you start out in your car what you will see or how safe you will actually be. The person did not hit another car which is a miracle as this is a fairly busy road especially during the noon hour. So be careful and aware when you are driving.
We had a pretty big thunder and lightening storm pass through early this evening. We needed the rain. I wonder if Witt managed to get any rain today? Will check the rain gauge in the morning before I take my walk. Decided it was time to get back to some kind of exercise and walking is easy to do and costs nothing. My hubby even took his wheeled walker out and walked during that same time. I was proud of him. Makes his legs sore but I think he just needs to do it more often.More To Come Later
MItzilou and Fairygarden, That is an Orange Cosmos and the seed came from KeyWee. So thanks to all three of you. It is so pretty and bright, I really like it. Hopefully it will reseed but I will be saving some seed from it just in case.
It was house cleaning day today, finished up by cleaning up dirty dishes and running the dishwasher, I think that is my favorite appliance.
Will be posting my first article on the Examiner.com site tomorrow, if I can figure it all out that is. My page is here .
Going to vist a couple of gardening friends tomorrow. Need to take my Silver Leopard succulent plant back. I just do not do well with them. Either keep them too wet or too dry. Plus they have a greenhouse which it loves during the winter. Will be taking them one of the 'new' Cuphea seedling. Hope to get pix of the three different plants that have come from the one that reseeded. Then I will let everyone see them. I received an Orchid cactus from this couple and will be taking them cuttings from this plant. It has just grown such long branches. It has not bloomed as yet.
Will be delivering one of the Cereus cactus plants to another friend. I have two she can choose from depending on whether she wants to watch a young plant grow or just wait for the larger one to bloom.
It was so nice to see it rain and my carport not get dirty water running down the middle. This is actually our driveway/carport but we sit out there more than the car does. So the work with the pressure washer did the trick. We have had more rain today and I am going to guess more than an inch has fallen since I last took the measurement of 2.2 inches. This has been a good year in as we have not had to use city water.
Going to chill out for a bit and get a fresh start in the morning.
More To Come Later
bunnies in our yards. I saw the wee bunny at the end of my carport last evening and then found a full grown one through my binocs at the back of the yard. Wonder if that was Mrs Brown Tail last year and she has brought her baby bunny back to visit. They sure are cute. Still can't see that they are eating much.
After the yard sale
the tables sat on the carport for a week until the leftovers were picked up yesterday morning. It had rained and the carport was so dirty. Between the regular roof 'dandruff'' and the nasty pecan tree tent caterpillers now doing their 'thing' it was a mess out there. I had acquired several years ago some very large and extremely heavy concrete tiles. They had been sitting all this time on the driveway next to the house where are the dirt, leaves ect. gathered all around them. So today I borrowed SNJ' s pressure washer and cleaned up the mess. Things look much better on my carport/sitting area.
My rain gauge held 2.20 inches of rain this morning. We sure did need it.
Took a few photos of things blooming in the yard now. Every day the gardens change.
This Zinnia is one I purchased the next photo is of two I managed to grow from seed. The little pink Zinnias are cute but not what I expected when I purchased them. Next year I will seed them and purchase a few that I know are big and colorful.
This is a very tall Marigold was grown from seed just scattered on the ground.. I can't remember what variety.
This next is a white Shasta Daisy in my SNJ's yard. This is the largest and most beautiful shasta I have ever seen. It must be 3 feet tall and standing very well.
Will have photos of the Cuphea seedlings soon. It has become the surprise in the garden this year. It has not come back as the plant I purchased, but is coming back in various types. Very interesting. I will be asking my favorite garden center owners about this one.
More To Come Later
you were a good friend and a hard worker. Yes the truck was sold on Tuesday and yesterday a man came to the door asking about it. It feel odd driving up the driveway and not seeing it there.
Some of you remember my Bunny Tales, well now this year there seems to be two little bunnies. My hubby is the only one that has seen both of them run. My SNJ has only encountered one at a time. She is so afraid sweet Macy dog is going to catch one of them. These two are much more skittish that the single bunny. I wonder if it makes a difference with there being two of them. Maybe they alert one another and then both run. Last evening I was able to stand on the ramp and watch one bunny for a few minutes. They are just so cute. This is last years bunny.
So far the only plants they have nibbled are the ruellia. I have the small ground cover type and the regular Mexican Petunia. These little bunnies have only eaten the smaller Mex so far and my ground cover. They are polite enough to hold off until the plant puts up more growth. Time will tell what else they will nibble.
The gardens are changing every day it seems. The only lilies still blooming are my bright yellow 'New Jersey' lily and the wonderful butter colored yellow. I wish I knew the name of the yellow one. It will put out blooms most of the summer. The Hibiscus have begun, both the bush type with the dinner plate flowers and the red Texas Star. TS has gotten so tall, over my head at 5'5'. I found one of the white spider liles blooming yesterday.
I guess it is time to get some more photos in my albums and clean some of them up. Can't find what I am looking for this time. The weather has calmed down a bit as far as heat today. Don't think it got up to 90, a nice breeze this afternoon and humidity around 40%. Everyday should feel this great.
Happy Fourth To All Of You, we live in the best country in the world. More To Come Later
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