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. 

Middle of the Week

 It was an interesting morning with lots of puffy clouds covering the sun. It was a cooler morning and the day didn't get too warm.

 At a distance the roses look great.They are actually weathered from the heavy rain and strong winds. 

 I will have to do some creative staking of the zinnias as they were flattened just like some of our farmer's cornfields. I can see they are not going to straighten back up so I will have to get out the jute twine and many stakes to give them some support.

 One out of three posts with ceramic houses did fall. I checked this one and I must have it really buried it in the ground as it was very sturdy when I wiggled it. 

 The phone camera picked up these colors of the three morning glories. They were not this pretty but the blue is good looking too. 

 I had an optometrist appointment this morning and we stopped at the bookstore afterwards. That took the whole morning so I didn't work in the yard today. It was a cool day and I guess tomorrow will be cool too. I can work outside on Thursday.  Thanks for stopping by today. 

Tuesday's Things

 We had an evening of storms in two different sessions. We had very strong winds and almost five inches of rain. In the low linning areas of badly designed streets in town there was flooding. The water couldn't drain away fast enough. The only damage that I had was the phlox and zinnas which were bent down to the ground. I am waiting for things to dry out before I try to upright them. It isn't easy to straighten up zinnias but stakes and string can be rigged up to get them back. 

 The wind was very strong and this variety of sunflower was not bothered by it. With the mammoth ones they would be leaning to the side in a bad way. 

 My clematis is blooming some more. The rians were a littly rought on them but they don't look so bad. 

My William Baffin rose is looking sickly. I spent an hour or so this morning trimming back all of the dead canes. I did cut out a sucker tree near it and it may be what is effecting it. Either way I will have to wait and see and I really chopped things out of it and have only a few tall canes left in the back. 

It is a pleasant day today as we just didn't have the high heat today. The rains are still welcomed as we need to catch up on the lack of it. The grass went dormant with the four days of high heat. I worked outside this morning and didn't have to take a heat break this morning but did rest because I was tired. I didn't water today but do think I need to fertilize my tomatoes. The tomatoes we have picked really tasted good. A real tomato is the best. I thank you for stopping in today. 

Monday is a Start

 Another hot day is ahead of us. We started off warm and the day will just be sweltering soon. 

 Phlox are a tough plant. The spread and take over everything with their invasive behavior. Also the don't seem to be phased by the heat. I like how they develop other colors of their species as the grown. I now have white phlos. All of this was started with one digging of dark pink phlox from the old place. 

 I noticed this year that our neighbor's across the street, one house over, has a large planting of this field lily. I am sure it has spread but I have never noticed it before. It took me a lot of years to get this planting to become established. 

 We took our son and his wife out to dinner last night. It is a special place to eat and you have to bring cheesecake home with you to eat later as the meals are so large. Everyone but our son had to bring home leftover food for eating later. We ate cheesecake later in the evening and they were so large that we didn't finish them. We packed a cooler with ice to send with them so they can finish their dessert when they get to Grand Rapids this evening. We put other goodies in the cooler to snack on as they make there 6 to 7 hour trip up into Minnesota. They will be driving into a thunderstorm for a short time but they also will get away from our extreme heat that we are having today..

It was great to have company and they both haven't been here for a long time.  Our son dropped in last year at this time to put in a "check on the old folks visit". His brother also came and they did some chores for me.  Everyone lives a long distant ways away but we aren't moving nearer to either one of them. The previous owners of our house moved to Boston to live next to family but we don't have any plans to do that to go to Chicago or Maine. 

Leftovers for supper and I can have a small section of my chocolate cake later with coffee. Thanks for stopping by today.