The summer continues. I plan to have a slower day today. I used up all the photos from my stock pile so I do need to take some new shots. The phlox shown above shows an outstanding display of color. Thursday's arrived and I am ready to face it. I hope all are doing well. Thanks.....for stopping.
The romas are slow to ripen. I have a new soaker hose that will help them do better. It is a strange growing season this year. My neighbor lady and I had a long conversation this morning about all the things that just have been slow. She planted collorabi this year and shw only got leaves. The plants just need so more rain.
I dead headed most of these blooms on this rose this morning. This one and only late bloom shows the yellow color . It will turn to pink eventually.
As proof to that statement is the visual of the two last older blooms on the rose. It is a nice rose because of all the variety of colors that can be on the bush at the same time.
An early morning shot shows off this large yellow daylily. By the afternoon the heat will have cause them to shrivel up and be gone.
I am sure that the eggs are mostly hatched as the robin keeps perching on the side of the nest. She was panting yesterday while on the nest. When they reach the stage of chirping for food I will try to get another shot.
I worked outside most of the morning until it just go to be to hot for me. I have some plants to move and want it to rain before I do that. I keep finding crowded plants that should not have been planted so close together. I found a day lily trying to survive among an iris, ditch lily, lavender, and chives. I will start at the middle of it all and see what plant gets to stay there.
My doctor's visit yesterday was a good one. I had to change doctor's and this new one is more experienced. I felt that he was more proactive to my health situation. I did get a signed document also that said I wasn't fit for jury duty. The county court already recognized the document on the internet and said that I was not serving. Thanks for stopping by today.
Sunflower development is moving quickly. Once its roots are established it can be seen growing taller every day.
This is my finest specimen of hosta. It is the best because it is planted near the drain pipe from the eve trough. It gets watered when it rains with three times the amount of water than a normal watering would be.
The petunias have done well this year but I have had to water them ofte as they hate dry weather.
It seems to be too hot and humid to swing on a tire in the yard. The grass is showing the effects of hotter temperatures. I made it to a doctor's appointment this morning and will stay inside for the rest of the day. Stay cool and safe out there. Thanks for checking in today........
I took this photo before I weeded the grass from around it. My trimmer cleaned it all up. The black eyed Susans were a surprise to me as I thought they had died back.
The large yellow day lily is showing off many blooms. It is one of my favorites. It is another hot day. I did use my weed eater for a half hour. It is all the work I will do outside today. Thanks for checking in today.
I have one good sunflower growing. It was planted late in the season but it will bloom. I have two other plants below that will do well.
The two back plants are also sunflowers. The front ones are zinnias. The sunflowers seem smaller but they will soon tower over those zinnia plants.
A corn plant is growing in the yard. I am saving it as it is Iowa in which we live. The birds must have scattered the seed. It must have picked it up then decided that they couldn't break into it to eat it.
I bought some guppies. I keep wanting them to reproduce but I have to have great water quality for them. I had a new one, live birth, a couple of weeks ago. In the past few days I had live births of nine or more. The adults sometimes eat them but if I can keep them alive for a week or so they can't swallow them. I try to keep the adults well fed so they won't be hungry. They look like a bunch of knats so I really can't count them. I got up to nine the other day but they do seem to hide out in the greenery.
It is another hot and muggy day. I watered the tomatoes again today with my new soaker hose. The problem with soaker hoses is that you have to remember to shut off the water or you could end up watering for half a day instead of an hour.
Thanks for checking in.......
The commercial product looks like this where the traditional has been cross bred to make a great set of flowers. The problem is this is shorter and I doubt it will ever get as robust or tall as the traditional kind.
The wooden bracket comes with a story. My grandfather owned two farms around the Murray, Iowa area back in the 1900s. He raised ten kids on the farms and during the depression 1939 he lost both farms. My dad and his brother dropped out of high school to work the farms to try and save the farms. It didn't make a difference. Somehow my grandfather did have enough to buy a low priced farm southeast of Murray and moved there with only four of the ten kids still at home. The house on the place was covered with gingerbread wood trims on a large wraparound porch of an old two story house. Fast forward, my Uncle Donald got out of Air Force from WW II and bought that farm. That would have been in 1945. Fast forward more my dad who lived a few miles on his own farm was tearing down our farmhouse for its lumber in order to build a new house. In 1959 he also bought Uncle Donald's house and tore it down for its lumber. My uncle and family moved to another farm house that was more modern. The brackets were saved from the farmhouse.
When my parents moved from the farm a town the brackets were kept. I asked for them and they have been in storage for a good thirty years with me. I kept them around as cherished antique items but never used them until I had place a flower box on them at my old place. When I moved to the new place they were removed from the shed and I brought them to our new place. The builder that put in our deck that wrapped around a fireplace put in these goal posts supports under the deck to meet building code standards. I have decided to make the goal posts into the place to display my brackets. The 1800's brackets are now on a house that was built in 2003.
The goal posts now frame a window that has antique looking lace curtains on it and they fit in good. I added a few trim boards to decorate things.
These were just shipped to me recently from a company that grows them in Oregon. They wait for them to stop blooming before digging them, dry them and ship them. I have to figure out where I want to plant them. I am over planting the property so I must stop buying things. I will figure out where to plant them but I am procrastinating in making the decision. The spades aren't that sharp but I can dig when I get around to it.
It is a muggy, hot day today. I did get the other half of my yard mowed this morning but the grass is needing some rain. Brown spots everywhere are showing but I won't water my yard. I guess I think I owe it to the water plants of Des Moines not to sprinkle the water freely. The river that the water comes from was so low the past two years. Thanks for stopping by today.
Two of the normal sized day lilies bloom out about the same time as the large one. This is an old reliable one that grows well. I moved all the day lilies to the new place and now its time to maybe move some around to better locations.
This too is a different that is just out now. It reminds me of two other s but it is different in color. It is a good one that has more of a balance in its too colors.
The phlox is starting to be stronger in bloom. They do get larger as more of the blooms open up. You can see here the finished paint job of the posts and support beams under out deck and sun room. I even pained the storage shed that sits at the right side of it all.
This is a project that I started. The bracket is from an old house that my one grandfather lived at back during the depression. Eventually my Uncle bought the farm from his dad.Eventually in 1959 my dad tore that house down for lumber to use to build a new house. I have two of them and I am placing them on my goal posts support that sits under the deck. It is strange to be there but when I finish up with other moldings I will show the whole area.
This is another project that I have going on now. I won't explain for now but there always is a story isn't there.
I worked outside this morning and mowed my front yard. We have shaggy looking grass as the rains have been scarce. We did get a quick downpour for about five minutes in the middle of the night. It is hot again today. Thanks for stopping by today.
