Friday's Finds

 

 

From soft colors to strong colors the zinnia puts out a variety for all to see. They weather seems to be good for them as they keep putting out lots of blooms.

 The phlox are fading but they still have good colors. The blending of the two plants with them and zinnias seems to work great. The humming birds are hitting on both flowers often. 

 When I look down from our bedroom window I keep catching glimpses of goldfinches in the sunflowers but I can't get the camera there at the same time. The goldfinch are not working on my sock of thistle seed that I just bought for them special.  I did see one goldfinch fly form the sunflowers down to the zinnias which may be they are finding insects on them.

 I mowed the front yard this morning after mowing the back yesterday. I noticed the sedums are doing so well. There are two different varieties in that group. Our temperatures are great today as I mowed with a light t-shirt on today. We are looking for storms this evening which helping us to keep up on our moisture. I am out shopping for a new mailbox today as our older one has been hit too many times from garbage trucks, mail trucks or even snow removal persons. I have some new iris to plant and that project is going to require me to build a new flower bed situation. I want to pick up some landscape ltimbers and dirt to start off new growing conditions.  I won't get that done for a few days but one does have to start get the supplies all together.. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

 

Middle of the Week

We have a lot of bees of all kinds this year. The bumble bees are larger so we see them more often. The honey bees are out there but being smaller I just don't notice them. The buzzing of a bumble bee around your head does give one a better idea of their activities. 

 We have had more rain in the night. They water from above is hard on the flowers and makes them wilted looking. The geranium flowers are being destroyed and they will have to rebloom.

 The white geranium hasn't been a strong bloomer for me this season. My whole circle of flowers in the front circle are needing to regroup with all the rains forces against them. 

 My front yard locust tree is drooping right now but when it dries out the limbs do lift up. I sort of like the feeling of the southern plantation feel as one looks through under the branches. 

 

The dinner plate hibiscus likes lots of water but it can soak up some of its blooms. I still have lots of buds so it will bloom for a long time. 

 I needed to mow my back yard a couple of days ago but it will not happen until tomorrow. I have my front and back yards on different schedules. It works as the fence keeps everyone not knowing that they aren't in sync. I didn't get outside all day but this late afternoon I may go shoot some photos. I don't do well when I am stuck inside all day so maybe I will be a little better more cheery after the walk. Our temps are low today but we are predicted to warm up for sure. I had to turn on the heat in the morning. 

I am getting a full load of humming bird shots as we have four birds out there fighting over the two feeders. Sometimes they get along and realize they can sit opposite each other and drink in peace.  Their is no way that I can share all the shots so I will have to selectively dump some. The humming bird is good at knocking off the focus as they move continuously. 

 Thanks for stopping by today.

 

Harvest Day

This is a ruby throat hummingbird. It has its back to the sunlight so he has a black band that should be reflecting bright red. I guess I need to move the feeder but it makes it more difficult for me to photograph. Its too high in the window. At certain times of the day the red shows up as he turns to fly away.

The female ruby throat has dots on its underneath of its chin.  I have three or four of these out there now and sometimes two of them will drink at the same time.

 The volunteer morning glories do take over things. I get aggressive and clip a lot of them every few days.

 I picked some tomatoes today. It was very hot out there and the tomatoes do love hot weather. I have cut back some of the sunflower leaves at the bottom to help get more light on the tomato plants I worked out in the garden this morning until I got too down in the back using the grass trimmer. It also was getting too hot to be out there and my dark blue shirt was a poor choice for working out there today. thanks for checking in today.

Summer Blooms

 

 

 

 

 

A Mild Day, Saturday

 The first chore for the morning was to stake up this sunflower. The winds were strong and the rain made the soil loosen up too much. I have a steel post and a sledge hammer from my dad's old farm. With some acrobatic moves I got into the flower garden, standing next to the sunflower, and slowly pounded the post into the ground. I tied it back up straighter with some jute twine. I had to retie another one that was already staked but needed the twine tighten to correct a lean. I had more phlox on the ground from the rain and the wind and I am just going to wait to see if it will correct itself some. 

 My William Baffin rose still looks sick but it is putting out a few blooms at the top of it, Having all the dead canes removed helps to see what is still alive.  I can see some leaf growth happening again. 

 

When I was a kid the yucca was not grown in Iowa. You had to head west into Nebraska to firs see a yucca plant growing wild. Eventually people would dig and bring into Iowa these plants and they found that they like to grow in our state. People also bring in cactus that also does pretty well too. I had a neighbor who had wonderful yellow blooms every year on her cactus. Yucca are now sold in garden centers for accent plants in the gardens. My plant came from my old place which came from a neighbors plant from across the street. I took the shot as I could see this is putting out lots of new growth. It only did two shoots for flowers this year so maybe it will revive and put out more next spring. I have had up to five stems of flowers at one time.

 The rains have made the blue spruce really fresh looking. It has a great color with lots of new growth on it. It has doubled in size in the past eight years. I really don't know what the full height of the it will be. 

 

We have had strong winds for most of the day. It is from the north so it has kept us from overheating today. It did get up to 81 degrees in the afternoon. It is quite pleasant to be outside but we will get up to high heat tomorrow. I worked on a new tray bird feeder today but didn't get it completed. I use scrap wood and it has to be modified to fit on a metal railing of the deck. I am tired of my older feeder and it looks junky from a distance. I will keep working on it and eventually be feeding again in the same location of the deck. New and improved is a good thing       Thanks for stopping in today. 

Thanks for stopping by today.
 

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.