Friday Finds

 The day lilies are sturdy. The rains don't cause much change to them other than they get coated for just a while. I was concerned that the shot wouldn't be any good as it looked waterlogged when I saw the bloom. 

 The rain did take down some more phlox. I suppose I will have to get out some more stakes and my jute twine. It was a gentle rain that lasted off and on all night. The rain weighs down the flower heads which  I noticed when I tried to right them this morning. 

 

 I am so glad to see the honey bees on the sunflower. I see them around this season and they do like the phlox blooms. I grow the zinnias for many reasons but the benefit of attracting bees and butterflies is a good reason. 

There is a bumblebee on this one at the lower bottom of the flower. They are not the largest size of sunflower but they are keeping the bees and hummingbirds busy.

 I really don't plan when I have flowers in the backyard. I do like what is happening there but it is funny how things just take over and grow. The rains make my mowed yard look better today. I worked outside this morning finding new large weeds that had to be pulled. I will return tomorrow with the weed trimmer and tear into it some more.  I watch a blogger guy from southeastern Iowa who has acres of gardens around two homes. He made me feel better about my gardens as he sighed and said he weeds day and night without any break. His gardens look great because of it but mine will never look as good as his. 

Thanks for stopping in today.  

 

Thursday

 It is nice to see bees of all kinds out there in the garden. Bumble bees are numerous this year as we  have had good rains to help the population. 

 The glads survived the bunnies this year because I planted them behind a fenced in area. I bought these a couple of years ago but last year they were all eaten off as fresh greens.

 

I like how they are a sculptural form with the blooms coming out from the bottom and progressing to the top. With success of blooms I may have to buy a different set of colors next spring. I do have to dig them each fall but it isn't difficult.

 I haven't had a lot of success with cannas but I am getting a bloom from this one. I like the leaf color. My brother who lives in California has beautiful large ones that he grows in pots. Of course his weather is perfect for it. I have four or five of them in the front garden that haven bloomed yet. 

At seven o'clock sharp this morning we heard popping sounds outside. Directly behind us the crew started tearing off the shingles of the house. They started early to beat the heat but they are still finishing up fastening shingles at five o'clock this evening. They worked through 84 degree temps all afternoon. They are in the cleaning up stage now and the popping sound of compression nail gun has stopped. It is interesting to watch the most modern way for the underlayment done on the roof. They don't use tar paper over the entire roof anymore. They do two strips of black paper at the bottom of the roof  and then the rest is a glued down plastic waterproofing. I like the color they shose for the new color and it isn't just plain gray. It has a green shade in it. 

 The yellow rose fades to white. It is still pretty and these seem to be weathering well.

 The starting color is wonderful thought. I mowed the front yard today and then rested for the rest of the day. Resting is a good thing.Thanks for stopping by today. 

Middle of the Week

 It is hot in the day but we are now cooling off at night. The southern winds have stopped and the winds from the north makes it cooler. We have the smoke up in the sky and it hasn't settled down so much. i can't take moon shots as the haze is great with the clouds and smoke mixing together. Our smoke right now is coming from a couple of western states and not from Canada.  

I mowed the back yard this morning and will do the front tomorrow. I had to take a break once before I could complete the task. It warmed up on me quickly. I will get outside earlier tomorrow. The grass is getting shaggy and yet it is has its  dry spots. In is the summer yard time when we are lucky to have some green. State Fair time is coming and we will have lots of hot weather for that.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Tuesday's Things

 An interesting start of the day with lots of clouds and a hot humid start already.  The day lacked one degree at being 90 degrees F. The sun was not so visible to the eyes but the camera did pick it up. 

 When looking up at the sky later in the day you can see the fluffy clouds. The humidity and heat doesn't bother the sunflowers. I am sure the leaves are soaking in the moisture from the air. They keep growing taller and all seem to be about the same height.

 Looking down from the deck they look like a group of people. I have been cutting back on some of the bottom leaves so the tomatoes won't get too much shade. 

 

I went to the grocery store early this morning to get meds and a few groceries. I wanted to avoid the heat. Ironically it was so cold in the store that the heat felt good when I left the store. It was nice to shop with the small group of people instead of it being crowded.  I had meds for both me and my wife to pick up and I didn't even have a line at the pharmacy.

While walking around in the backyard this morning I noticed I really do need to mow the grass. Maybe tomorrow morning it will happen if I get out there early enough.  Our grass keeps going brown and then greens up again. We didn't get rain but there is dew on the grass most mornings. Normal hot weather is suppose to continue for quite a while. 

Thanks for stopping in today.  

Sultry

 It is a hot morning while looking down at the tomato/sunflower patch. It is heavy humidity from the night heat and we didn't cool down.  I believe we started out at 79 degrees F. Some of the plants don't seem phased about the heat as they love the high humidity.

 I carried a watering can up the hill to give the circle garden a little bit of moisture. It pays off even thought it was not that much water.

 I planted my mail order Japanese maple into the center of the circle. The grand plan is that years down the road there will be a bonsai-shaped maple in the center of the raised circle bed.  I am glad I went ahead and bought a six foot tree of the same kind and put it in the back yard.  I have cannas growing in there right now and they look like they might bloom. More water will help them for sure. 

 The lens has a small amount of moisture on it from it being in a cold house and being taken into the sauna-like weather. I carry water for the large lily to keep it lasting as long as I can. The smaller yellow day lily didn't bloom this year because of the installation of the fence. I think the workmen tromped it down and it didn't like the treatment. I will move it when the weather becomes better. 

 The hibiscus is struggling under the heat. I keep it watered but the hot sun and heat just takes away its freshness. It does have lots of buds on it so maybe  have better times. I went to get the mail and bring in the garbage in the afternoon. When I opened the garage door to go and bring in the bin, the outdoor heat just swooshed inside like it was a vacuum. Tomorrow it will be a little bit cooler by four or five degrees. The farmers in Iowa are probably saying that this will really make the corn grow. Thanks for stopping by today. 

 

Sunday

 When the clouds cleared we did get sun. It got ups to 98 degrees F. It was not cooler in the shade. Our cool down will be 79 degrees at six in the morning. 

 The heat is hard on the hardy geraniums, I plan to bring inside the hanging plants as their non soil planting medium just dries out completely and it kills everything in the pot. 

 I didn't get time to water things today but I will do so first thing in the morning. My water bill for the past month was higher but it was needed to water as much as I could. 

The phlox are fading now as their season is starting to run out. I saw hummingbirds checking out the tiger lilies yesterday but I didn't have a camera handy. I know that they try to get food from the plhlox but I can't see how they get much nectar from them.

It was not great to be out this day but we did make it to church. The concrete really glares back the sun's heat as you walk to and from. We stopped for sandwiches on the way home and that will be all we will do for the rest of the day.

Thanks for checking in today.
 

 A wonderful bloom that I photographed the first thing in the morning. I came back later and a chipmunk had chewed it off and the flower lay on the ground.  The flower is now in a glass dish being treated as a special floating bloom.

 I tied to approach my shots this morning trying to get more of a background with my flowers.  I usually crop them down but thought today that foliage should be included  more. It does give one a better perspective of the size as you see the leaves around it. It is a delicate flower with a delicate color.

 My tying up the flattened zinnias has made some of an improvement. The plants will never grow up straight again but they do look more natural in their tied bunches. 

 I keep thinking I won't see any more blooms on this but this morning a welcomed flower was on the stem. I use to say this is the last one of them but it tends to  prove me wrong. 

 

It was so humid today that it was very uncomfortable to be out. I did cut back all of the dead parts of this rose after the photo was taken of course. I also cut vines out from my one honeysuckle bush. It has a lot of vines as a shrub but all the other weed-like vines needed to go. I had a huge pile of wild morning glories and hops vines. I also cut back the rest of the dead parts of my William Baffin rose. There were lots of dead stems still on it as well as rose hips that needed to be removed. There is some life still in it but it looks really sick. The front yard rose bushes needed a little pruning and I also had some leaves that needed to be removed from the back side of the house. I went to get the wheel barrow and a rake and picked up all the spoils. I had a full wheel barrel and after a pop break I put all of it in a recycle bag. Then I decided that it was enough for me to be outside. We are going to have two very hot days this weekend. It will be a good day to stay inside. Thanks for checking in today. 

Friday's Finds

 The morning glories are enjoying the cooler weather. They have taken strides in vining up into the sunflowers. I have pulled a lot of the vines early on to keep them from choking out the tomatoes and sunflowers. 

 While taking photos this morning I looked up and this new bloom was staring down at me. The multiple headed flowers are putting out lots of color in the garden,

 The tiger lilies are starting to slow down with its blooms. They are looking a little weathered aas well as the phlox are weathering even though there is still a lot of color there. 

 

The hibiscus is in bloom now. It is lesser in number of stems but still has those dinner plate sized flowers.  I have been watering it a lot to encourage it as I thought I had lost the plant. 

The cone flowers in the front yard are doing well. This is a newer planting of them as I moved some of the growths around last fall. It gave them some vigor in a new location.

 I have a successful potting of the jade plant from a smaller pot to this bigger one. I did have to brace it for a few weeks, up against something to keep it standing until the roots were finally holding it up again. It almost looks like a bonsai but not by me but by accident.

It was a rainy morning but nothing accumulated. I had neighbor dogs barking at me through the fence as I took photos. It made it more fun as with the smaller the dog the more barks one gets.  They were visiting their grandparents. Thanks for checking in today.

It's Almost Friday

 The Wednesday evening sky showed evidence of the sun at the end of its setting. 

 I spent the morning trying to stake up all of my zinnias that had been flatten in our wind storm. In my frustration I grabbed the clippers and started trimming back things. I have things staked up with jute twine and staeks in bunches. As the week goes by and I will cut the strings and let be what will be. It was such a great stand of zinnias. 

 

At the other end of the garden I had planted more a couple of weeks later. They are just now starting to bloom and were not tall enough to get flattened by the heavy wind and rain. That was a good thing. From the house I will see the newer blooms first and won't see the mess at the other end. I had to also tie up phlox. 

The clematis was not bothered by the weather and I still have these great blooms. The vines are getting thicker so I am hoping for more blooms. 

 

My youngest sunflower has now started blooming joining the other two that are already in bloom. 

 

We get to see hummingbird wars now as there are three or more of them visiting the feeders. They are hard to catch at the feeder with my camera as they come, drink and leave so quickly. We have had a cooler day today. It is so great. Thanks for stopping by today.