Heavy Wind and Heavy Rains.....all Night.

 

Our local weather person said we only had a trace of rain.  He didn't check the gauges around Des Moines. If this gauge is level it is 3 inches of rain.  We had a downpour late evening with small hail.  It just rain so hard it was like a roaring sound. It rained off and on the entire night into the morning. We still need the rain in the area so I was so glad to see the amount that we had. I also see by the news that the Mississippi and Missouri will be flooding us out soon as the snow melt is coming our way.  We are, Iowa, the land between two rivers.

 Over night the lily of the valley just sprouted up.  There was not sign of their growth yesterday as I was working right there all day.  I was concerned that they were dead.

The rains have coated our living room windows. The mourning dove looks sort of soaked from the night of rains. 

The rains did not disturb the red bud flowers.   I am just going to take a photo each day to be sure I get the day that it is in full bloom.  The bag of mulch in the background was dropped off there yesterday and this morning I did spread it around.  I need another bag for sure to get all things covered. 

These iris were moved here from other crowded spots.  Some were in wet clay that just kept them from performing.  This good soil is giving them all they need.  I hope there are at least one of two blooms on them.  One never knows what happens after you move them.  Again, I don't know what colors that they are. 

This New England bluebell loos sad but maybe the parent plant will look better now that it has rain.  This a volunteer that has spread. I like that as I could now move it to another garden space. 

I got rained on this morning while spreading the mulch. I just kept on working and hung up my wet shirt afterwords.  I have no way to eat the rhubarb but it make a nice foliage plant for enhancement to the wagon wheels.  I shared before that I move wheels and milk cans down from the old place intending to share them with my brother-in-law who wanted some.  He will never take any of them now as he is living in a nursing home.  

It is a gloomy day in spite of the brief time that the sun did shine.  A day after a rain seems to be a soggy one and one can't do much outside.  I did see the neighbor's yard treatment company come and spread something on their yard while it was sprinkling.  I have some to spread but I am going to wait for a warm day.  Tomorrow is another day for work to be done. Thanks for stopping in today.

Wild Wednesday......with Happiness.

 

Our overnight rain storm didn't seem to damage the daffs.  I think we had small hail but it didn't last for long.  

Happiness is when your burning bush survives the rabbits and the past winter weather.  I am not going to unwire this for a while as the leaves must be really tasty to the rabbits.  They trimmed it up last summer from top to bottom and it was a brand new purchase. It looked sad all summer.

Happiness too is the iris that has come back from it's initial planting from last year.  It looked tough all year and I kept watering it thinking it was dead.  I don't even know the color of the blooms. t I will welcome new blooms. I was so surprised to see this do this rapid growth and look unhindered.

I am also glad to see the Rembrandt tulips starting to bloom.  There are many more to bloom so these are just the first blooms. 

My final happiness to share is the fern leaf peony.  It has eight buds on it and hopefully most of them do bloom.  The plant has a tendency to form buds and they then some just shrink up.  I guess the drought last year brought that on for me.  This plant has a lot of history coming from my mom's yard. She had stolen or borrowed her start from a renter's house next door.  I have moved it twice now and given so many starts of it to so many people.  The old place had lots of it and the neighbor lady took three plants of it to line her driveway.  I have some in Minnesota and others in Murray, Iowa.  

The day seems to be a nice one but we do have strong storms predicted.  Rain does make the grass grow and I may have to mow on Friday or Saturday. I would rather it get too tall before I do my first mowing.  I am not sure why.   I saw two different yards being mowed yesterday. Thanks for checking in today.

Things......Today.

 The red bud looks promising but the flowers still are not quite open.  The nights are too cold for it to get into full bloom.  I had a 15 foot tree at my old place so I was spoiled thinking this is such a small tree. 

I am so glad that I planted the tree and it does fill out the garden with lots of color. It is three or four years old and it will get taller and wider as the years go by.  It is fun to work in the garden and have it to look at when nothing else is in bloom right now. 

The peonies are just starting to poke through the soil.  The dead stems made it look like they were up but now I can see that they are officially up and growing.  Usually the peonies should be in bloom before or during Memorial Day. 

Sometime the creative brain goes wacky.  I moved this gate to our new place.  The buyers tore everything down at the old place so I call this my rescued gate.  I am thinking I will put a vine on it.  I know that the half of the plot is in shade right now but by the way our lot is positioned at an angle to the world the shade part will be in full sun in another hour. 

Our morning is cold this morning but by afternoon we will be up to a normal temp again.  The yard is going to need to be mowed in a few days.  I intend to do my own mowing unless my body tells me it is a bad idea.  I have lots of options to call on in a city this size. 'We have rain predicted tomorrow hopefully filling up our lakes and rivers up with more water.  Thanks for stopping by this Tudesday.

Starting Off Again.......

 

Our view from across the street looks like this.  I should have shut the garage door first but I did have to make the trip across the street so that should cound for something.

 

 

The  trees look a little bit weathered from the derecho we had a couple of years ago.  I lost a main section out of the first one and branches from the side on the second one.  I would like to plant another one but my lot shape makes that front to be two narrow.  

 

 

 It was very cold out there this morning and you can see the tulips look pale and are closed.  We were down to almost freezing in the night but now we are at 57° F. 

We are predicted to have lots of rain on Wednesday.  Our drought seems to be over with now as we seem to be in a snow and rainy season.  It's spring in Iowa except when we are hitting summer temps between it all.   Thanks for checking in.

 

Snowing on Sunday.....

 It was a normal time for me to take a break. My lower back was feeling bad.  As soon as I sat down my son in Illinois texted me photos of his tulip blooms.  It was natural that while I sat to rest I could take a shot and send it back showing what I was doing.  I had trimmed rosebushes and Japanese iris leaves from last year.  I had two bags full and I was tired.  I guess it was an accountability conversation showing to each other that we are getting our yard work done. 

I took another iPhone shot of the daffs and it is not a good photo.  The shot shows the new flower boxes in place in the background.  The water spout has been in good use as we have been getting spotty rains. 

The redbud tree is looking better. It still isn't in full bloom yet.  Our grass is looking so green.

I have two different spots where I have put my fern leafed peony.  I had to move it from a spot next to the neighbor's fence.  He was putting in a new fence and I wasn't sure where the new post holes were going to be place. It looks better and more fuller this year but it really is slow growing in this location.  The other planting location has only two stems that has come up and one of them might bloom. 

We are having snow off and on all day.  It is too warm to stay but it is strange.  My wife's birthday was yesterday and she says she was born in a snowstorm. So snow at this time isn't that unusual.  We are havng a quiet Sunday.   Thanks for stopping in today.......

Spring Rains......

 

Pink roses are perfect for my wife's birthday. The roses are of a higher quality than usual as their leavs are thicker and the stems are stronger. 

 

 I am sure that the house finches are already starting their nest in my blue spruce tree.  The songs of the finch are so wonderful to hear.  I am thinking I am hearing a wren until I notice who is putting out the sound. 

We are out of our drought conditions but I can tell by the soil that we need more rain.  We are getting it this afternoon.  It is a cool day of middle 40s F.  and snow is predicted for tomorrow.

I need to stand back and get better full shots of my flowering trees.  Maybe tomorrow that will happen.  I can't stand in the rain to do it right now.  If it snows tomorrow I may try it just for fun. 

We are headed to an Italian place for supper tonight.  We haven't tried it even though it is in our own city.  It probably is only three miles away from here.  Birthdays for my wife always include Italian food even though she is not Italian.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Finishing off Friday......

 Our flowering trees in the front yard are almost in full bloom. They put out buds that one doesn't really notice but suddenly we have white blooms.  This is an ornamental pear tree that doesn't put out fruit. 

I worked in my gardens for the third day getting most of everything cleaned up. I had three bags of dead leaves and branches by the time I finished. The wild violets show up when some things get cleared off of certain areas. 

I uncovered this plant thinking that it was dead.  I believe it is the bleeding heart plant that I inherited when we bought the place. I am going to carry water out to it as we are still very dry.  Maybe that will cause it to rain.  I know they think it might snow on Sunday. 

I forget what this little flower is but it is growing among the grass near a flower bed in the front of the house. 

The ccreeping phlox is now putting out its first blooms.  I really like the plant for the time it is bloom.  I tolerate for all the other seasons.  I have weary muscles today as it was my third day out there.  I know I need to rest up as the grass will need to be mowed in another week.  My neighbor was out yesterday getting his mower all ready to go.  I will be sloppy and just pull mine out, gas it up, and start mowing.  We watched the neighbor's across the street having solar panels installed on their southwest side of the house.  We could never do that as our sunny sides of the house face the street.  Our back side of our house is in shade by noon.  Thanks for checking in today.