Raining in Iowa........

The promise of more blooms from the coneflower.  I have noticed the buds in early summer but the color of the flowers really makes them stand out.

There is a lot of green in the backyard this summer.  The monarda is in the far back corner and all the other layers are in front.  The phlox are dominate this year in most areas and the most of them are not even in bloom.  It should be quite a sight once they are in good color.

The seasons are changing already as the field lilies are beginning to collapse.  If people didn't know better this could look like the edge of a real pond.

I keep trying to get a shot of a wren for this year but it just doesn't happen.  I can hear a strong call from a wren up in the apple tree but I just can't catch a shot.  The apples drop a few apples early each year. I don't know what that is all about but there are plenty of apples still on the limbs.

I can pick these from the roof of the garden shed this year.  There is another part of the branch that is on the back side roof and it is loaded too. I saw apple tarts for sale at the bookstore coffee shop.  I think that we need to search for some recipes for that kind of dessert.

A large amount of the phlox are budded now and some are in full bloom.  I can see that the plant does change colors as the plant spreads.  This is almost white while most of mine are pale pink.

When I was young living on the farm, we had a lot of these colors of phlox. The darker colors I remember most and then I think the white was the second one that I remember. To have the variety of colors is a good thing. I do have to thin out some of the plants just like the monarda.  The fragrance is stronger now the further into the summer season.  At first I could not smell anything from them.

We have light rains today which will be good for the plants.  I thought I needed to water things when I was outside yesterday.  It may be a small amount of rain but I can wait until tomorrow to put heavier amounts on them.  I am not getting any of my yard mowed now but maybe by this afternoon I can get started on that. The road construction people are still not done and it is getting to be dragging on and on.

We had a tough week last week so we both are very tired today.  I know some down time is in order.  Heavy lifting and long times in the yard are completely not on my list today. The heavy lifting is actually never on my list.  I have one frame job to assemble and I am still in need of some more supplies for other things.  A large order of framing left on Saturday and the customers were very happy.  Another batch went out on Friday by a person who had waited almost four months before picking them up from me.

I see various people in the blog world are getting a lot of different weather right now.  I hope the drought lets up soon and also the excess rain doesn't flood others. There is a mild break from the heat here but the humidity continues.  Thank you all for stopping in to my post today.