Monday, July 9, 2012

It Rained

Storm Clouds Gathering
Finally after weeks of 3 digit heat, we got rain, a lot of rain with more on the way. Here on the flat land,  the ground is just soaking it up, thirsty from weeks and weeks of no moisture. Here in farm country, the corn has been saved. The spring snow pack was far below normal, which determines how much irrigation water the farmers get. So this rain saved crops. At the Garden Spot, it loosened up the soil, so we weeded. We can irrigate by running the sprinklers, but it's just not the same as Mother Nature's concoction. In the burn areas, however, predictions of mudslides have come true. While the heavy rain put out what hot spots that remained, there is not any vegetation to retain the water, so mud slides. More rain is due tonight and then a return to hot.

We are busy getting ready for the annual Nicks Family Picnic that we have each year, so there is lots of cleaning going on--in and out. It always takes a party to get me motivated to get the house really cleaned. Is it the same at your house? I want everything perfect. So Saturday's project was to mulch the pine trees at the entrance. A pretty big job.

Before: a healthy crop of weeds getting a good start.







13 sq. yards of mulch. Dust and all.

Bring in the Toy. Any excuse to get this big boy out, but gotta admit that I am glad I let the Head Gardener buy his toy.


After: A lot of scooping, racking and spreading. Weeds covered. Mulch spread. Head gardener worn out.

New Blooms in the garden



The day lilies are beginning their show. They are a hearty bunch, but even the prolonged head stifled them. I love this second one with the tinge of pink around the edges. Even prettier with rain drops.


Crocosmia bejeweled with raindrop diamonds. Another fav. I love the red hot pow that it brings to the garden. Red is sometimes a hard color to find in the garden other than beautiful red roses, but this spot of red on long spikes with iris like leaves makes its presence in the garden well know. And a bonus--the tiger swallowtail butterfly last year seemed to enjoy it. 




Daisies and rain, a perfect combination.



Sidalcea. Not at all a good picture, but this is a hollyhock with tiny delicate pink flowers that look like their big sister. It is new to the garden and I love it. I planted it in the courtyard where it gets morning shade and hot, hot afternoon heat. It will tolerate full sun. The branch off to the right is broken off either from too much rain or too much dog traffic.
 

(I need to take a better photo of it.) Called "Party Girl Hollyhock", it a prairie mallow that will grow 36 inches high, so it will fill in nicely.


Planted next to the pom pom razzmatazz  echinacea, this monarda is a must have because of its hardiness and ability to fill in a spot, not to mention its unusual bloom. This is its second year.

Have I said I love pink flowers? This Razzmatazz cone flower is just pink-lucious.

Echinops has seeded and spread itself liberally about the garden. I'll be chopping some out because it is taking over its  part of the garden, but the spheres of blue spikes are just too intriguing, adding interesting texture to the garden scape,  and the bees love it



As a child of the '70s (actually I was quite grown up), who didn't like the yellow daisy? This one is new to the garden. Both of my banana yellow daisies didn't make it through the winter. 
So if we thought the spring flowers of May were fabulous, July in the garden is a good month, too. I didn't get all the seeds planted that I had wanted to, so sunflowers will be scarce, probably just those that will come up volunteer. I planted a few zinnias, including my lime green ones which went at the end of the row in the vegetable garden. They are coming along. Weakly. The star gazer lilies will be a big disappointment as will the Asian lily. Too hot? Too much water? Not enough water? Wrong food?

Its a busy week getting ready for the picnic. I cleaned today. Tomorrow I'll finish up the photo album. Wednesday I'll shop for groceries. Thursday I'll get stuff out. Friday I'll bake. Set up tents and so on.

Hope you have a great week. Enjoy your garden.




10 comments:

  1. How sweet and hospitable of you! Your garden looks fantastic! I am loving the day lilies, too! Hooray for the rain!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have a wonderful time at the picnic. I wish we had rain, tho it did this morning and the ground didn't even get wet. Love your garden flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like you'll be worn out before you even begin the party. Thank goodness for badly needed rain - your flowers seem to have pulled through the heat ok

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so jealous (of your rain...) - no sign of it here, although the heat has abated somewhat. I'm SO tired of watering!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh thank goodness you finally got some rain, even if it is kind of over done.

    Your flowers look so lovely...there is that water in the garden that you talked about.

    Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

    ReplyDelete
  6. So glad you got that much needed rain! Your flowers are really pretty....I especially love the lilies.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi momma. I love your photos. I am jealous of your SLR camera. It takes such amazing crystal clear photos. I have photos of my gardens in general, but I haven't taken any in macro yet this year. I finally got my blog updated!! I have noticed a pick up in the traffic on it. Probably due to the award you gifted me. But I did get it updated tonight. So hopefully they will come back.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just discovered your blog and I think it's a little gem. Your writings of your garden and the amazing photos of your flowers. I lowe it very much.
    We have too much rain at the moment here in The Netherlands.
    I will follow you!
    Janneke

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anne,
      Your garden looks wonderful you have some really pretty flowers on show...i did read on facebook that you can use coffee around hydrangea and it works the same as tea! i can not believe the difference tea and fire ashes made to our bushes.
      Have a lovely weekend xxx

      Delete
  9. Some day maybe I'll get to have a blog post called It Rained. I can only hope! I am intrigued by echinops, but I sure don't have room for anything else.

    ReplyDelete

Back in the Swing of Things

 Well, hello friends. My only post for the year was in March when I declared, "I'm Back." I really didn't go any place; I ...