Thursday

The glow after a very hot day on Tuesday was asking to be photographed.  It really was the beginning of a stormy evening.

Iowa’s temperatures are really abnormal right now as well as other parts of the United States. We had a break from the heat Wednesday but today will be another hot one.

The flowers at the farm are blooming.  I also have spirea bushes and a mock orange bush blooming.  The smell of sweet flowers is in the air. I brought back some more hosta plants from the old yard along with one iris that I didn’t get moved.

The flower is beat up from the rain storm but the flowers on this iris looked great.  I had not dug any part of it to bring to the new place and that has been corrected.  It had big rhizomes and I was able to dig it out. I think I will plant it first in a flower pot and keep it alive in the shade of the deck.  It is just too hot to try to put it out in the garden with hot sun.

My property at the farm was an old one with lots of history.  The rows of peonies were planted probably 60 years or more ago. I regret that I just can’t bring a sample of each of them.  I do have the red one as is in the photo. It was the one that I had from my grandmother and mother’s place.  It didn’t bloom at the new place but I didn’t expect them to do so after the first year of  transplanting.

I am glad I had a chance to see this in bloom as it is one of a rich wine color.  I had a friend at school that had brought in a big box of iris rhizomes and this one was such a winner. It will always be called an iris from Sally.

I am home today doing lots of odd jobs in the morning.  It will be its hottest this afternoon so I must get all things done this morning.  I mowed at the farm yesterday and I could tell the heat was slowing down the growth of the grass. Our yards look like they are going from lush green to the hot summer look of late August. I am going to water flower gardens every day no matter what.   Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week......

We had severe storms last night in the neighboring towns have trees being destroyed. It was a rough storm with strong winds. We did not get that but we were just at the edge of it and got rain. Our burning bush stands strong and looks good with it receiving rainwater. Our local tv stations were having a hard time keeping their stations on the air.

Our front planter in the yard looked good this morning. I have been watering it every morning to make sure that we would loose some of the annuals planted in the front. This vie is the back side and we haven’t got all of it planted year. Maybe a couple of large hardy geraniums would fill it in quickly. We need to go shopping.
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The front of the planter has petunias and they are holding their own with my extra watering. They are just now starting to bloom as their rooting systems are getting established. We bought some spikes this year just to add a little variety in the garden.

I collected morning glory seeds last fall and they did get moved to the new place. I grabbed a plate and shelled out the seeds.  They are now planted and the soil was soaked heavily with water to help them germinate. I will keep those seeds wet for a few days so the shell on the seed is softened.

I think that I lost most all of my iris blooms yesterday. The 100 degree heat F. shriveled them up to stop recognition of them.  I have a few stray buds that might give me photos but the majority just didn’t survive.  I have a white iris that blooms large flowers and it is still in the bud stage. If the next two days of high temps don’t destroy it I will get to see it.  If it starts to open I could bring it in and put in in some cool water to keep it going.

I am headed to the rural place to mow the yard.  It will be cool this morning today and stay a lot less hot through the day.  The last time I was up there it had turned 90 F. by ten in the morning. I shouldn’t have that problem today. With storms last night in that area, I will be picking up sticks again. It will be nice to have a day off from the heat.  Thanks for stopping in today.

Tuesday’s Things......

Yesterday, the heat created storm problems with all that heat having to mix it up and react. We didn’t get rain from it but people north of us got downpours and lots of hail. We were told that we haven’t had heat like this since the dust bowl era.  I do hope it starts to turn around to be normal weather soon.

These clouds do not turn into tornados but they are the ones you see while tornadoes develop elsewhere.  The day was so extremely hot that the tornadoes ended up being miniature ones not causing damage.

The former owner had peonies of three different colors and buttercups all planted together. I will water everything today because I didn’t last year and the flowers were ruined. I will be out working today early because it is to be 90 degrees by nine o’clock.  That gives me a window of an hour and a half to get it all done.

Thanks for stopping in today.

More of the Same....Heat.

It is too hot to go out and take photos. I watered flowers and tomatoes this morning. I mowed the front half of the yard and the heat finally got to me.  I had to quit.

The heat effects the sensors of a digital camera giving me different colors that what is really there.

Two of the falls on this iris have not moved down into position.  It is a pink one that  I moved and it really is frail looking as a plant. I will keep checking to see if the one and only bloom will finishing open its last two petals.

The people who wanted to enjoy this weekend of three days really didn’t get to do that. We broke heat records yesterday and will be doing so again today.  We were close to 99 degrees F. yesterday and today we will be cooler by a couple of degrees. Some camp areas lost electricity as they were not able to handle the demand needed to run air in all the campers.  A lot just went home a day or two early.  I know for sure we have hit summer already and I do think it could cool down a bit.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Heavy, Hot Heat.....

My hosta plants are doing well. At least two out of three will be good sized.  The one is trying to make some growth spurt but it seems to be struggling.

I inherited this row of peonies.  We were in a drought last year so none of them looked good. This year they are opening up in a heat wave of upper 90s.  I watered them this morning before we headed to church. I see the lavender is looking good in the other flower bed.
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This iris is doing so well considering that it had not bloomed at the old place for about three years.  The iris is called “superstition” and is black when it is in bud form.

So far I have three of my cemetery iris blooming. I am not seeing the brown and yellow, white and blue, and pale yellow iris blooming.  I don’t think those three will bloom this year unless they bloom late. I will just have to wait and see. I know where some of them are planted yet at the farm and I may have to dig them again and repellent them.

It is too hot to be outside today.  We are suppose to get up to 99 degrees F. today. It will be nice to get back to normal temperatures but I am not sure when that will be.

Have a great rest of the day today and thanks for stopping by at my blog.

Sizzling on Saturday.....

Friday nights storm were forming north of us.  I am sure the old place got wind and rain. I know some had received large hail stones.

I have a lot of favorites of the cemetery iris.  This one I started from a three inch rhizome from the Murray Cemetery. Years later it had grown into a very healthy large plant.

I really must have been concerned about bringing it down to the new place as I have three sets of growth of it. I must have dug it early spring and then summer again as I kept returning from the farm. Its falls have such nice pattern on them of dark and light colors.

My rows of marigolds are doing great. I had a couple of orange ones that I used as accent colors in the yellow rows. I watered them yesterday and due to the high heat today I will probably water this evening.

This is the first year for me to buy the orange ones.  I usually get a daisy-like marigold but Wally’s Mart didn’t seem to have them for me to buy.

This iris is so much better looking than what the camera is doing for it. I will keep taking shots of it until I get a really good one. The bearded part with the falls seems to photograph good enough.

Our one rhubarb is seeding already.  I have pulled three of the stalks out and now will do this one.  A young minister friend doesn’t believe me that rhubarb goes to seed so I took a photo of it just for him to see.

It is a very hot day today and I won’t be finishing off my mowing today. It maybe will be cooler on Monday.  Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to enjoy some of the three day holiday.

Friday’s Final Finish......

Thursday evening with the big tree in the shot. It was a better sunset than this but a row of houses were blocking the complete view.

The morning brings me a sunrise that is in full view. It is going to be another hot day.  For some reason I think those clouds were some that I have seen before with the day ended up being a scorcher. day,

The red twig dogwoods have come to life.  Their red bark has all turned into a yellow green color and the leaves are developing. I didn’t notice when the lost their red color but it hasn’t been too many days ago. I was just out there thinking those red twigs are not coming back. They are a little rugged in condition but I can see no there will be shorter round shapes of leaves.

The oxalis plant in the large round pot is outside now and it immediately started to bloom. The whole set of foliage died back and a new crown shaped set of stems and  leaves is growing. It grows well outside until the temperatures get to be too hot.

Up at the house I did mow yesterday and it did get too hot.  I picked  a couple of iris stems as they were laying on the ground.  I also had both shrubs of weigela in bloom. I do have stems of those shrubs in water trying to root them for planting at the new place. The stray sticks with a few leaves in this bunch are those rooting sticks.

I keep watching for new kinds of hosta but I think I have reached my limit in kids.  This one here does look like a new one for me left by the previous owner.  Trimming back the dogwood did give the hosta plants a good chance to grow in full sunlight.

I have a second new robin’s nest under my deck.  I don’t know if the other nest was used but the two seem really close together for two pair of robins to share space.  They seem very territorial. I hope the pair didn't just built two of them and only used the one.

We are having another hot day today.  I am taking time to catch up on the last flower plantings. I have six marigolds to put somewhere and just bought too many of them.

I have not major plans for the weekend but will take it easy for three or four days in a row.  I appreciate  your stopping by today.

Getting Some Jobs Done....

Yesterday I was able to get the marigolds in on the border of the raised bed. I am happy how it all turned out and will be glad to have the marigolds crowd into their row as they grow. I found a red-orange colored marigold to throw into the mix.  It will give it a less regimented  look. I had a few plants left over so they are placed elsewhere in the back yard flower beds.

I am told that the marigolds are good to ward off insects but I really just do it to make a showy flowerbed.  The tomatoes have really started to grow bigger.  My neighbors were really big plants from the start but mine will catch up to them.  I have been watering mine already to help keep them going. When I worked on the beds, I was able to swing one side of the fencing  around and work on it one side at a time.  The original owner had a good design for this.

I did get the cecropias planted yesterday.  I have always wanted one of them but I could never get them to grow.  This half gallon buck of them should prove to make me successful with blooms each year.
We first saw these at a rest area in Colorado but never really planted any of them. I think they have different names but I am not certain of them.

Two rows of zinnias have been planted in the two crooked rows that I made.  It will be a "wait and see “ situation to find what seed actually will grow.  It is so hot and dry right now and it make take them a while to germinate.  The one package of seed had a purple coating on them to make it easier to plant. I do have leftover seed from last years plants if I need to reseed anywhere.

The young iris  bed looks like this right now. There are more buds to bloom and I will keep taking shots of the bed to show its progress.   I mowed at the farm this morning, earlier than usual.  It predicted that it would be 81 degrees by 9:00 this morning.  Even though I was early I still had to work it that heat.  It can really drag your energy level down fast.  I had a neighbor lady come over for a 30 minute talk on the street so I did loose time getting the job down before it got too hot. I am soaking in air conditioning this afternoon to bring me back from that.   It is really too hot to do anything outside this afternoon.   I can force myself to grill a steak to go with my wife’s potato salad and the rest of that day and evening I will be inside.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week.......

A hot and humid day is projected to hit our area. The clouds are not rain clouds even though it is raining in northern Iowa. The warm humid nights have begun also.

The sun does make it up and out of the early set of clouds. Having leaves on those trees does give me a new view of the horizon.

A gentle blur on this shot doesn’t distract from the wonderful color. The iris patch is starting to pop lots of kinds of iris.  Maybe today I can figure out how to get a focused picture. I guess I could pull out a tripod but maybe I can just hold the camera steady after a good n night of sleep.

The sun does shine through the tops of the iris helping to add to their glowing color. My iris bed looks spotty as they were just planted last summer through the fall.  Next year the bed will have filled in with probably a crowded set of plants.

The columbine has more blooms now and some of the first ones are going into decline.  It grows in a heavily mulched area and I was glad I recognized what it was when it came up.  The over grown asparagus from last year must have kept me from seeing it in bloom.

I have lots of odd jobs to do today. I mowed yesterday afternoon when it was hot so I will get out early today to finish the job. We bought more flowers for the flower beds and some of them will go in today. I hope everyone is doing good today and thanks for stopping in at my spot.

A Foggy Start... and Hot Weather is Here.

The old fashion iris is blooming.  I had collected it from my parents home in southern Iowa. It grew all along the edge of the garage growing well in high sunlight. It didn’t bloom so well where I had it planted but now in bright sun at the new place it bloomed quite readily.  I have another new variety out this morning in bloom so photos will follow tomorrow.

Another shot of the goldfinch pair at the sock. They were not at the sock for a while as they were tending their nest.  I do think in a few days we will see the hatched birds at the feeder.

We witnessed a few days ago a male was feeding seed into their hatchlings' beaks while the little ones were squawking sitting on the deck rail.

I have two yards of grass to mow.  It is so lush and green from all our rains.  Last week when I mowed, the grass grew up and was shaggy within three days. I will mow this morning at the farm once the fog lifts and then will return to maybe to do the front yard here this afternoon. It is going to be 81 degrees F. so it will be a challenge.

We bought more flowers last evening so those need to go into the ground through the next few days. Our front yard planter is the only one for two blocks on both sides of the street, so we do need to make it showy.  We bought some perennials to help make that easier each year. More petunias were bought to plant into our long raised flower bed in the front of the house.  It has all the spring things growing there and then there is nothing in there that will bloom for the rest of the summer. My knock out roses are returning after their freeze out from winter.

Our new home is a great place to view clouds.  Not a good place to see sunsets. The sky view in the mornings and evenings are unlimited so I just keep taking more photos.  It is Tuesday and I hope everyone has a great day.  Thanks for stopping by today.