Tuesday's Things.....

 I found the old granite cooking pan in the dump. I was given the sansevieria, snake plant. I have it planted in so many things as it just keeps multiplying. The pot has a rusted hole in it already so I don't have to worry about drainage.

I have ten stems of regale lily and some are now just starting to  bloom. Things seem to be safe where they are planted so the heat shouldn't lose any of them. 

 The old fashion snowball viburnum is doing well. I do think the blooms seem small this year but maybe they do grow in size and time passes. I am glad I brought a start of this from my old place. I am told that most of my flowers and shrubs were removed when the people remodeled the old house.  At least this one is still alive. 

 My one good spot of color is this rose. It is the new knock out rose that my recently picked out. This is a wonderful color and as it ages it starts to fade to a pastel color. 

We had a minimum of rain last night and today it sprinkled in the afternoon. My neighbor lady said they were showing her house this afternoon so I rushed out and gave her front yard another mowing. It was not comfortable in the sun and the humidity was bad. I was too weary to mow mine plus it really could wait a couple more days before it is too long.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday and Humidity

 Today is our 41st wedding anniversary. It has gone by quickly and yet we had so many ups and downs. We have had a good day with supper out at the local Italian place. 

My antique rose is doing well out there along the fence. A section of the fence fell down so I had to trim a lot of it back to protect the workmen when they rebuilt that section. It will bounce back. I did see that I have a new second main plant starting to grow next to it. I am glad for that as I like growing historic plants from our old place, It grew next to our one hundred plus years old house. 

.A red twig bush that I cut down to the base has rebounded to a blooming big shrub again.  It has been a couple of years for the rebound but it certainly is a great looking bush now. I was concerned that I had killed it but it had so much dead wood in it that I thought it would hurt either way. 

My secret garden area is behind the big blue spruce. It has the old fashion rose growing above it and the hosta that I planted last year are filling in now. 

We are hot and very humid today. It looks like it will keep up the same tomorrow. This weather does drive up the chances for harsh storms. Part of the state is in warning zines right now. We did get an inch of rain f from our two days of spotty rains. That was good for every living plant on earth.  Thanks for stopping by today.

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 Best Sunday wishes to you all. It is a late night post as the day seemed busy and distracted. Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday Stuff

 

 

 

It is a hot and humid day. Typical for Iowa summers but still we complain about. The yucca plant is the only one that really likes this weather. I had to water a few plants tis morning as they were really in distress. I have some seeds that have not sprouted and maybe a rain in the future will help that out. I was planning on mowing a little and gathering grass for mulch. It seemed foolish to do so and will wait until Monday.  I had a busy day yesterday and forgot to blog. Today was busy too but I did make time. Thanks for stopping by today.
 

Blue Bird Watch....

 I told my wife that I had seen a blue bird out on our railing. I didn't have any visual proof of it. I have not seen a blue bird in many years. I saw some when we visited our one state park where they had houses out on fence posts along prairie. That had to be twenty years ago.

I did not expect the bird to return. Instead I looked out and it was collecting debris from my flower planter. It is making a nest down in the crimson king maple. I haven't investigated it yet but there is an old birdhouse hanging down there in that tree. I hope that is where it will be.

 A closer look at the busy worker. I hope everything works out well for the pair. I don't want to get too close to anything like the birdhouse so they won't be frightened away from there. 

 Amazon was trying to sell me seed for pink primrose flowers. It knew I had  been searching on the net for an identity. I think it would be nice to grow some pink ones. 

I mowed the back yard this morning after my wife's doctor's appointment. It was getting hot and I had to take breaks while doing it. It is funny how the heat has already started to yellow my grass as if the grass know it is going to be hot and dry.  

Thanks for stopping in today.

Turtle Alley

 If the turtle was alive he would be eating on that hosta leaf. I think I need to give the little guy some waterproofing coating to help bring back some of his true color. 

 I am not surprised the Amazon keeps an eye on me but they think I should by some primrose seed. The seem to know that I searched the flower for identification reasons. Amazon wanted me to buy some pink primrose seed. 

The three plants that I have in my raised bed in the front yard is not doing well. I guess I am going to have to water them every day. This is the only one flower that I have on the three plants. I call them carnations but there is another couple of names for the flower. Dianthus is another name even though the old farm women in my family called them pinks.

My yucca plant is starting to open its blooms. I guess I should be photographing it with the foliage showing so one can see the stalks sticking up out of all those leaves. I like my old desert plant that I brought down from the old place.  It is pretty hardy no matter if we are getting good rains or not. I know that it like hot and dry but it does respond to a little bit of watering. 

I mowed my front yard and the neighbor's front yard also.  I got the neighbor one done just in time for interested buyers to see when they viewed the house. The house seemed slow on the market at first but now it looks like there is a buyers war going on to get it. That would be a nice problem to have..

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hotter Day...

 Working outside this morning included finding new places to plant hosta.  I have no plan in my garden and I just walk around visualizing where they might look good once they have matured. I actulaly added them around my mailbox post. Lots of people in my neighborhood have flowers and hostas planted around their mailbox. I added an iris last year and now I have added the two hosta, chive, and two more iris. Nothing will look good until next spring. 

My Grandmother Brooks moved from the farm to the city in 1963. She moved to a house that had running water and an indoor bathroom. She passed away in 1973 having living in the city for ten years. Little would she ever believe that I would take her wash basin from that old farmhouse and am still using it today 62 years later. The porcelain pan was used for washing dishes, hand washing and small clothes scrubbing. She would have to boil water on the stove and pour it inand let it cool down before she used it. It is a great garden pan for me as I carry dirt, put plants in it, and move water to plants with it. I like it because it is old and I get to use it in memory of my grandma. 

I have only one last bloom of this right now. It was the last to bloom of all my historic, cemetery iris. 

My wife's new knock out rose is looking good.  It has rooted in well and the flowers keep coming. I fertilized it today to help the rose and the hosta too. 

The down side of bird feeders is the freely growing of some of the seed down below on the edge of my patio. 

I bought this as a cheap container of flowers to use on my front step. I think the marigolds are going to be the dominate flower that takes over the planter. There is a struggling geranium in there as well as two petunias. It was cheap as I said so you get what you pay for. It isn't planted in dirt so I have to water it often. 

I spent time getting a new hearing test for the purchase of new hearing aids. The technology keeps improving them, so they say, and I have been battling with a weak battery in one of my old ones.  I picked up groceries on the way home and it got really hot while I was out and about. It was good to get home into air conditioning. thanks for stopping by.

Monday's Mentions....

 I have to keep taking shots of this rose. It is so wonderful with so many blooms. The rains have been beneficial for this William Baffin rose. 

My newest hosta is looking good. It is hard to find any different ones unless you order them from a catalogue. I found this at a grocery store's nursery.  I shared it with a friend and had three other starts from what was in the pot.

My moss rose is slow in its development but soon it will be a bowl full of flowers. This old bird bath that leaks water has proven to be a great place to grow them. 

I consistently plant things and forget what they are. I remember planting some withered root in the ground and just walked away a season ago. I guess when the blooms start to open I will know what it is. 

I worked in the yard this morning moving an iris to a better growing location.The iris didn't seem to bloom in the location or I had it buried too deep.  I also dug a few hosta that were growing behind a rose bush. They were growing there before I put in the antique rose bush and now the hosta is just back behind it all and the hosta really can't be appreciated.  I had to fight the barbs of the rose to get into the area for digging.  I put down some more fertilizer on my back yard but didn't get done. I  seem to run out of energy and had to just quit.  Tomorrow is another day for working. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunshine Day....

 A hazy morning sunrise. Humidity and some smoke keeps the air quality to be somewhat dangerous. 

 

I keep cutting the last of the peonies that are just hanging on. Actually they are laying on the ground.

My bonsai pot really is too small for my quaint desert display. The cactus has outgrown the container. I have an idea of what I will use to move them into to recreate a desert. I am working on the idea of getting more plants outside and onto the deck for the summer. I think this group will be replanted and placed in the shade.

This is the very last of this white iris. It is such a great specimen. I have this iris planted in a couple of other locations now.

I have only a couple of blooms of this dark iris. It is named superstition by the company that I bought it. It is still putting out some very last blooms and not other iris is in bloom now. Time to trim back all the stems now for the iris to regroup. 

It was a pleasant day with mild temperatures. The sun did shine and there was no breeze. We were out for church and then had a sandwich out with a friend. It is rest and relaxation time for the day giving my muscles in my old body some time to heal up a little. Tomorrow will mean more yard work but nothing as hard as mowing nor any digging. Thanks for stopping by today.

Sat Day....

 When you refill the feeder they do come. It went dry and I didn't know it. It is nice to see some activity out there again.

The railing to our steps helps creaate the felling of a trellis.  This rose is doing so well. having many blooms and more buds to open.

 

 The newer roses are such a deep yellow and slow they fade to a lighter color.  This is a climber that I keep trimmed back each year rather than have a tall trellis. 

 

I worked again in the back yard today. I watered some zinnia starts hoping to get more of them to germinate. I had some trimming to do for the neighbor lady's house and then I spread fertilizer on the front yard. I will fertilize the backyard on Monday. It is harder work than it looks like pushing that little thing around with your back bent down to its level. 

I cut some more of this peony blooms and brought them in to put in vases. All of the white and red peonies are all spent with the rain ruining them. These blooms started to shed a little as I brought them in.

I had the two large older angel fish and recently bought three small young ones.  They are growing large fast and soon I will have five large angel fish in the tank. I really like them as they are so exotic looking with that strange shape. They turn and look at me when I go to feed them. 

We had a couple of times with light rain but to the most part it was just cloudy all day. The last rain will help set in my fertilizer.  I will tell you about the fertilizer when I remember to look up the brand name. Its a very organic one made from a town's sewage. It works so well, much better than the other kinds for grass, bushes,  and flowers. 

Thanks for stopping by today.