Friiday's a Catch-up Day.....

 
The double tulips have really spread out and now look like peonies. The colors are so great and the weather has been mild enough to keep them around for a longer time.

My peonies are almost taller than the tulips.  I just noticed today that there are lots of buds on the peonies.

I am so glad that I didn't get tree saw happy with this burning bush.  I was so shocked to see the other two thirds of the bush that looked dead, is now becoming green. We are so dry that I need to dig out a garden hose and soak the soil around it. It is unusual to see a whole third of a tree green up and leaf out while the rest of it had not.  I was pulling grass out front in the flower garden and we are extremely dry having not had any rain for the whole month of April. We had a sprinkle a week ago that didn't seem to be measurable. 

Four of the tomatoes that I had that were planted in small pots have now been moved into larger pots. It is all temporary for a week and then they are going to be put into the ground. We are suppose to have a cold week next week so it is good that I  waited to plant them. It seems to be a little bit fussy but I had the time to move them into the larger pots.  My neighbor said she beleives they like being repotted a couple of times before they get put outside. I think that could be a wives tale but it sounded ok. 

Yes, I did forget to blog yesterday. Things get busy, complicated and sometime confusing.  I did remember that I had not blogged about ten o"clock at night. I have lots of photos now so I can just keep putting out the posts for a while.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week......

 I thiught I had another hosta planted in here but couldn't find it. I then remembered I had used the rocks to anchor down my Christmas deer. When I removed the rocks I just put them in the snow not know that the hosta was growing there.  It looks a lot better today with the weight taken off its leaves. 

While standing out there by the bush checking on its dead parts I was showered with whit flower petals. You can see the leaves are pushing out and the flowers are leaving.  The bush was damage from our heavy winds last summer. It blew so hard that ti caused about two thirds of it to die.  I saw other trees in the neighborhood that was damaged the same way. A flowering tree a block over had to be removed as it bent it over so hard that it killed it.  We are gong to buy a new burning bush but we don't know where we will place it in the yard. I am trying decide what to do with this one as it will probably have tust cut down.

I shared my adventure with the wheel barrow, bringing down four bags of this dirt to the back yard, downhill. I first dug out some of the crab grass and found out why I had put dirt in these raised beds. I spaded up the grass and found I was immediately in good old Iowa clay. The whole backyard was grated while the building was done and clay was left on top of the surface with the black dirt placed somewhere else. This land was originally a corn field so I know they must have had some black dirt on it. When I dig back here for planting I usually get into wet clay even in drought conditions. I put black dirt into the holes that I dig before planting things back here.

Having rested for a long period I did return late afternoon and empty the dirt out of the bags. I don't want to dwell on things about my health but my new heart condition has really shut down the kind of work and the amount of work that I can do. The guy who now mows my yard should be here tomorrow if he keeps on a tight schedule. 

 

We are colder today so it was best that I didn't plant these. They are going to be big when I finally do plant them.

I did get this one planted a couple of days ago.  It is a cherry tomato and I thought it would work great to put it up on the deck at our kitchen level.  I was going to bring it in last night and I thought that it would toughen it some if I left it  right there. The wind didn't bother it too much yesterday. My brother in California put all of his tomatoes in pots rather than digging holes in the ground. He has perfect weather for them in the Yorba Linda area. 

 Thanks for stopping by today.

Tuesday's Things.....

 My neighbor's tree are so appreciated by me. I am glad that some of them have planted them. We we look the other way they don't have many trees. 

I really can't identify flowering trees but I can appreciate them. It really has a lot of clusters of flowers on some of the branches. 

While boxing up the presents for our granddaughter I inserted som of the old books from the basement. We have to mail out our presents today in order to get them there on time.  Ella turns two years old already. 

I made a trip to Ace today and have things to transport down the hill. I had a young women load it for me and now I will do a few things at a time moving them down the hill to the backyard.  The gravity on the hill takes the wheel barrow down and all I have to do is keep it balanced as it rolls down the hill. I then coasted it over to the location and tipped the barrow sideways. Gravity also took them out.  I will return tomorrow and spread so dirt.

We are going to be 82 degrees F. today. Cooler than yesterday.  We were actually hotter than my brothers in Arizona and California yesterday. My internet tells me to not plant tomatoes until after May 10. I was disappointed to read that. I was going to plant them today.  I will try to wait a few more days and then plant them anyway earlier than recommended. 

I thank you for stopping by today.

Hot Monday....84 degrees F.

 I use to have to take our little poodle out every morning and I got shots like this every time. Button has been gone for a number of years but I do remember to have a Button moment in the morning every once in a while. I am not sure what is with the second glow.  I don't know it it was there or if the camera created it.

 

The mystery of the missing lily of hhei valley is over.  I guess I had to wait for the soil to warm up because it is now there in full sight. I thought the voles had eaten them.  I do know they chewed up a few of my hostas in that same area.

 

The Siberian iris is coming up next to the rhubarb.  I use to call it flag iris but I see by catalogues I was giving it the wrong name. I am assuming the new leaves will cover up all that debris from last years leaves  I did cut back as much as I could but it took shears to get it off of the plant. 

 

Because of the neighbor's building a new fence I was asked to move this fern leafed peony. As a result it will have one or two blooms only this year. I will have to wait a whole year to see it bloom seven or more blooms again. 

 

I planted the cherry tomato this morning in a big pot this morning.  It will sit on the deck just for the fun of it. It will get the same weather as it would if it was down on the ground. It will be warm enough now so the ground temperatures will be warmed for the planting of the six other tomatoes.  Maybe tomorrow that will happen.  Probably my neighbors to the north west will be doing the same thing. 

 

 The double tulips are starting show weathering but still have good color. The phlox is in full bloom now. It is Monday and I trucked mulch and dirt down the hill. I did pretty well handling the wheel barrow.  I do notice that I have used muscles not in shape.  I will rest for the rest of the day as I keep trying to build my stamina back.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunday.....

 Early morning view off of our deck. It was cold out there and I didn't stay long.  Snap, snap, and snap and then I went back inside. The camera picked up more than what I was seeing which was the strip of glowing yellow.

 

 

 First try was not a good one even though you can see some good glowing going on in the shotl

I convinced the camera that it needed to focus and it finally did. It was cold and I didn't have a coat on so I was in a hurry. I leanded against the house and stedaied the camera. Once I got the shot I went back inside. No need for more than one shot.

Saturday.....

 I wanted to plant tomatoes this morning but it is too cold for me and also for the plants.  We are at 41 degrees F. and it will be 84 degrees in two days.  Wow it just keeps jumping up and down temperature wise.  I do like to plant tomatoes when the soil has some warmth in it. 

I traditionally plant my own seeds and have way too many plants.  I was sick earlier and though I would not do any tomatoes but now I am better.  We bought seven different plants a few weeks ago and they are living in the sunroom. The place is not heated at night so they have been hardened off a little with cold nights. I will share the kinds that we bought when I take more pictures of them. These plants are ten times bigger than when I start my own. I will have tomatoes at least two or three weeks earlier than when I normally do. 

The cool weather has extended the blooms of the tulips much longer. I planted these two years ago and out of a variety sack I see that they only had two different kinds of bulbs in the sack of many. 

The hot weather on Monday will probably take out these blooms. They have lasted longer than usual this year. 

We have to take a trip to the pharmacy/grocery store today and that will be our adventure for the day. We have a few essentials to get and we will get out of there as quickly as possible. Living in a big city means not going there on weekends but it can be done. Speaking of big city, we were offered free seedling trees at the city maintenance  building.  When you have a city of 70,000 people the free trees had run out about three hours into the day. I did find the place and found where I could get free mulch. That made the trip worth its while. . 

Thanks for checking in today.

Friday's Finds.....Show and Tell.

 

The double tulips have matured and are now looking really great. They vary in height but the blooms make up for that.  In many ways the individual blooms do remind me of roses. 

Our three year old red twig is looking good with the leaves forming.  It is the variegated variety of dogwood. Eventually there will be hardy geraniums planted aalong the base of it. My wife likes the pink or coral colors so that will be the ones we will have. This is a traditional planting that will continue until the bush gets too large.

New England Bluebells were planted here when we bought the place. I was so glad to see it there as we had them at the old place.  The property was old so they came up in scattered places throughout the east side of the house. 

I really wanted to go plant my tomatoes outside today but it was too cold for me, so it would be cold for those plants. I did go out and pull grass out of the zinnia garden area.  I haven't planted them yet but it is good to get things cleared ready for the seed.  I did use the tomato fork yesterday to work in a bag of new topsoil into the tomato bed getting it ready for planting. If I go out each day and work a half hour I can get a lot of work done for the future flower garden.  I also pulled grass out of some of my iris plants today.  I have buds on two of my fern leafed peony plants now and even if it stays cold they will bloom.

I am blogging in the sun room and getting warmed up from being outside.  I got to watch the neighbor guy mow his yard while I am sitting here. He always mows on Fridays.  That will be his second mowing for the season.  My hired people will not be mowing for me until six more days.  It will be too long by then but I don't have any control over when it gets mowed.  

Thank your for stopping by today.

Thurday's Things..

 A zoomed photo shows the maturity of the pussy willow tree buds.  It shows the leafing out of the red maple tree to the left of it.  Also the blue spruce has a blurred part of the picture on the right side. 

The neighbor's big tree that is two lots down is putting out its leaves. The are not all ao they are a faint amount of color compared to the fully leafed out tree. I have decide that the tree belongs to the neighbor to the right of that fence line. I that the fences butt up against it but there is not fencing on either side of the tree.  It just blocks the whole between the properties. 

This doesn't appear to be an unusual view of the yards. The thing that surprised us is that playground unit did just sit in the other backyard a day ago. It set in the backyard of the one  just north of it.  The new owner of it has grand kids that come and visit on weekends so I am sure that that it why it made a move.  It looked so strange to see it there after seeing it in the other yard in the for four years we have been here.  I really would have liked to see how they moved it.  I suppose they could have taken out a section of fence between the yards and drug it through.  The two dogs that live in the yard don't seem to pleased to have it in there yard as they now have to run around it when the chase one another. The grand kids are sure going to be happy to see it there. 

The creeping phlox is looking better. The cold weather has slowed down the opening of the flowers. 

I seem to be moving slow today. I am late blogging and yet I don't have a heavy schedule.  I do think I will dig out a cart and carry a bag of dirt over to the raised bed tomato spot.  I didn't get things plowed with a spade and I won't now but a new layer of dirt won't hurt.  I can maybe use a potato fork and work it in a little as the days go by.  We are still too cold for me to put out my tomatoes but I need to get them in the ground soon. When my neighbors to the north plant theirs then I will also plant mine. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Wednesday's Post....

 I have two tomato plants with blooms. It is too cold to put them in the garden. I snowed this morning for a half an hour. I think by next week I can get them into the ground.  It feels too cold to even wish to plant them. 

I can't over plant my city backyard but it is tempting to put these rooted pussy willow sticks into the ground. The forsythia in the other vase really are not rooting but if they did I would consider planting a bush somewhere. I did put more water into both vases after I took this photo.

I don[t think our freeze really happened but it was close to 32 degrees. I think the temps in town are a little warmer than out in the open. It did snow on me while I was driving to the hearing aid doctor this morning. 

I split and apple with my wife in the evening for a snack. I liked the looks of these Gala apples and picked them up yesterday. They are not as sweet as Delicious apples. As a point of information the Delicious apple was developed  near here at Winterset , Iowa.  They have the original tree still standing as a monument even though the tree is now dead. 

It is the middle of the week. We are stuck inside with it being cold but the sun is shining. Have a great day at your location.