Monday's Mentions

 It is a hazy day with lots of humidity in the air. We will receive more rain tonight. We had three fourths of an inch of rain last night and numerous tornadoes were spotted in out state in the late evening.

 The rain does put some of the peonies on the ground. This old fashion one came from the old place. 

 

 I was happy to see that I still had this iris alive. I thought it was one of the ones that had rotted in the area. It is my Uncle Leo's favorite iris. My cousin brought the iris with her from Oregon where he lived and planted it in Chicago. When he died from Lou Gerhig's, ALS, disease she planted it on his grave. The grave is one row from my parent's grave so I did harvest some of it. The iris covers the entire grave area of my Uncle and Aunt who are buried there. It was allowed to become overgrown. 

 It is a new iris for me. It didn't bloom last  year but it is a true blue iris that I like a lot.

 It is in the same area of the blue iris is this pink rose bush. It will bloom all summer if I keep it dead headed. 

 I got a water treatment applied to my new bench today. It has  been fun building it. It has a lot of flaws as it is made from two by fours and one by fours. The gluing and use of long screws has secured it solidly. 

 

 I am fascinated with the designs that the pieces make. As I coated the treatment on it I kept my eyes open to favorite design compositions. I have more that I will share tomorrow. The bench can be seen in its full view as I can carry it upstairs to be put on the deck tomorrow. It has to dry out, or soak in for a day. 

 While out there I also brought out some of the plants that had wintered over inside. They will need to adjust to the outside and maybe will normalize their behaviors instead of stretching for light. I do have a new project develop as the board that they are sitting on has started to rot. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Sunday's Shots

 

 

 

 

 Storms are all around us but we seem to be missing the severe stuff. A gentle sprinkle in the night gave us a trace of rain. Storms may hit this evening. We are in heat and heavy humidity with gusty winds. It is summer and things like this happen. 

Thanks for checking in today.  

Saturday's Stuff

 The peony season  has started. The half of inch of rain did put some of the blooms on the ground as usual. I am hoping the majoring of the bushes do stay somewhat upright. 

 My new fence created a warm place for plants so that corner is the first place for them to bloom. I will try to keep a bouquet in the house so we can see them up close.

 This cemetery iris is enjoying the warmer climate in the corner also. They are doing well inspite of the workmen walking all over them when the fence was installed. 

 Another cemetery iris is in bloom right now. It is one of my favorite of the small iris. The subtle lines of veins on the falls are so great to see. I am thinking all of my iris are getting crowded and the don't seem to be as  many stems this year. I may need to reevaluate the places that I am growing them.

 The young mourning doves are showing up at the deck rails. I researched the species last year and it said that they can put out three or more hatchings in a summer. 

 It was hot again today. We hit 81 degrees F. in the afternoon. I finished my mowing this morning both front and back yard. I wore short sleeved T-shirt and shorts to adjust to our hotter temps. I had to take a break in the middle of the job. It was nice to get it all done. I could hear mowers all over the neighborhood while I was working.  We had a half inch of rain in the middle of the night and we needed the moisture. I hope we get more in the next few days. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Finals on Friday

 The earth keeps tilting. The sun rises above the horizon behind the big tree. That means the sun can actually be up a half hour before I can see it. 

 

 The sun and temperatures are such that I had to quit mowing. It was too much for me in out backyard to stay out there.

 It was so hot that the one last baby robin had its head sticking up out of the nest to cool off. I was going to take down the nest thinking they were all gone. When I got my mini step ladder I could see it still in the nest all alone. I was using that door today and it didn't seem to bother it. My wife saw one of the parents pulling a worm up out of the grass to feed it.

 

A newer and different color of iris is out open today. It is so light that I had a hard time getting it in focus.  The first shot was blurred but this one seems to be good. I only have one stem of this variety as it is a new plant.

 

My old fashion traditional iris has so many blooms on it that the weight  pulls the stems down. I had to stake a couple of them this morning. 

 The white iris is doing so well out in the front of the house. I remember getting this iris from my neighbor Judy many years ago. She had me clear and thin out her iris bed and I brought this home with me not knowing what kind that is was.

I had more projects to do this morning that ai had time to get to. I finished using my new spreader on the front yard. I sanded on my bench some hoping to get a finish on it but that didn't happen. I partially mowed some of my yard and I scatter new grass seed in a couple of areas where it was needed. I have cople of different things to plant that I bought when off on a lumberyard run. I hope to get a lot more done tomorrow, Thanks for stopping by today.   Oh yest, we are upt to 87 degrees F. right now in the afternoon. Rain that we need isn't going to happen.  

 

 

 

 

Playing Catch-Up

 I think there were three in the nest. I know that two have left the nest. I have seen movement in the nest as one is still in there.

 The first one that left the nest was clinging on the ledge of the fence. I notice it while I was out working in the yard. The mother bird did keep coming over and feed it. 

 The bird did eventually end up in the yard up the hill. I saw him fly there as he was on an adventure.

 The crabapple tree is exceeding my expectations. It had just a few blooms opened when we bought it and now it is loaded with blooms. I keep it watered and it does have a good sunny location in which it can grow bigger. 

 

A new variety to be open now is this one lone bloom of this color. I see there are more buds on that single stem.

 One of my cemetery iris blooms is now open. It isn't that showy but I like the history of it, being from a line of old iris from the past. It is a hardy bunch surviving the workmen who installed the new fence. It will do better next year with the mistreatment last fall. 

 

The winter weather did not effect this rose bush. There are buds everywhere. The blooms will come all summer.

 

It is a great color for a rose and looks like an old fashion one even though I don't think that it is. 

 I lost one rose to the winter weather and the five that were hard hit are still alive. Most of them look good even though I may replace some of the knock out roses. They were bought by previous owners  and they are old. They don't seem so robust anymore. 

 

 

I now need to get it outside and sand all of the rough spots. I am waiting for the baby birds to leave. I am really happy with the design and I am overlooking some of my flaws. I do have to remember that I made it from pine, stud two by fours. I did finish turning in the screws that are sticking out in that bottom photo.

I made a special trip over to buy a new seed, fertilizer spreader. I inherited a used one from the previous owner at the new house. I foolishly gave my new one at the old place away to the neighbor as I didn't need two. Today the one major part broke and I couldn't dispense the fertilizer. Once I tried the new one, with the correct setting on the dial, I realized the old one was wasting my time. It wasn't dispensing enough of the material that I was spreading. Who would know? Tomorrow I will reapply the fertilizer to the front yard getting it done correctly. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Waiting and Watching

 He is impressed with the new dumping of seeds. We haven't seen him for a couple of days so he must have found a better feeder.

 The colors of the feathers are just amazing to see. He does keep watch at all times for danger.

 I didn't think the lily of valley was going to do well but it has started to break out into many blooms. 

 The colors of this iris are so strong and dark. It is a newer purchase that is blooming well for me now. 

The crab apple tree got a good watering this morning. We haven't had a lot of rain since I bought it. I was instructed to keep it well watered. 

The chives are opening up more as time goes by. I have a lot of plants of this and shared a stray growth of it to a neighbor the other day. I see this morning I have another section that I could share with someone. 

 I use to have many more different varieties at the old place and I didn't seem to get them all moved to the new place.  I did move this pink one down from the other garden and I have it spread into three different plantings now. I have a yellow one that is about to burst into bloom very soon. Maybe tomorrow I can share it. A blackish one is almost ready to bloom too.

 I am an artist and a gardener. I also do love working with wood. This process of gluing boards together requires a lot of patience. I have the first three glued together and the other end three boards glued. Then also I have three in the middle glued together. Once everything seems dry I will take this apart and will put in screws to reinforce the connections. Then I will glue one more time the three parts together..

We had a business meeting this morning and I squeezed in some yard work and this wood project into the spaces of that appointment.  Waiting for wood glue to dry is hard for me but I have to wait on the process.

We are having a warm windy day today. It is nice to be outside. Thanks for checking in today.  

Monday

 It the largest of all of my hosta. I don't know when I bought it. I did move it to the new place and I am finally getting to grow big enough that I might be able to separate it. It grows next to a water tank so I can keep it watered well. The drought was so hard on so any things that good rainfall is what brought everything back. 

I planted these as a whim and I am glad that I did. The plants seem to do well there and I do give them a little water once in a while from the nearby spigot. It is on the northeast side of the house and the rain doesn't hit that are very much. 

I need to divide these but I just don['t know where to start on them. My daughter-in-law keeps all of here hosta thinned out and I just don't get to it.  The rose in the middle doesn't really seem to be bothered by  all of them. I have a raised box area there so all things are contained. 

I had two of these branches of blooms laying on the ground the past two days. I cut them this morning and they are inside in a vase now. I have a lot more of the iris ready to bloom now. I need to get out with my camera and document them.

I have been waiting for a furnace guy to come this morning so I didn't get time to work on my new wood  project. I did get the front of the house spread with Weed and Feed this morning while I was waiting for him.  I had a chat with my new neighbor guy this morning. He actually is not as old as me as he still works at home. He was out and about and today he took off a day to get some work done.  

Monday looks great outside and feels great too. I thank you for stopping by today