Tuesday......

 It makes a big splash in the garden. The color leans more towards an red orange but has such a strong color.I need to go to the area to see if anymore zinnias are emerging. One set of seed has grown but the other has not.  They were planted at the very same time.

My one day lily is starting to bloom. This one looks weathered because it usually is such a pure color.

The regale lily seems to out do itself each season. My grandmother use to have these and she would spend all of her time counting them. I don't think I will do that.  I am busy mowing my yard and my neighbor's, who is very sick in the hospital. He had mowed my yard with another neighbor when my wife was so sick. I mowed his front yard as if it were all one big yard connected to mine.  It looks really good. I am really concerned for my friend who is the hospital.

My tomatoes are looking great. I only have four this year and had planted them in the late eveing one day while my wife was still in the hospital. I wasn't going to plant any but there was a nursery attached to the grocery store where I could pick up some plants easily while running for a sandwich for supper. 

We are hot again today.  The sound of men shingling a neighbor's yard rings out all day.  It is windy today so it made the yard mowing easier so I am sure the guys on the roof are a little better off. The heat though is up to 91 degrees F.  I am grilling a steak tonight for supper. Northern Iowa is going to get storms today as we are just looking overcast now. It is a gray afternoon.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday,,,,,,,,

The grocery store's nursery market dropped all of its prices by over 80 percent. I bought a five dollar geranium planter for the front door and I just had to go back and pick up this three dollar planter of succulents. I wasn't in the market for anything but eight dollars later I had two wonderful items.

The former owner of the place had this plant growing in the front gardens.  They are too tall and look like weeds in those garden areas. I moved it back against the fence and it really does work. I don't know the name of the plant but it does put out nice bloms. 

We will have leftovers for tonights meal from our take out of Italian food. Lots of pasta leftover and steak and chicken. My pasta is alfredo and my wife's is marinara. It will taste good again. Thanks for stopping by today.

40th Wedding Anniversary.....

 We will be celebrating our day by ordering out from Olive Garden for our dinner. It has been a quiet day mostly except for the facetome call from the grandkids. Father's Day hits on our anniversary often through the years.

My wife is doing well now that she is home. She still uses the walker as a balancing tool but she is able to stand independently for long periods of times. It has been a week and a half since she is home from the Health Center. That five week stay was too memorable and time is helping us to forget it as time passes. It is so quiet in the house and we are enjoying it. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday.....

 The new, young mourning dove exhibit many unusual behaviors at first when the leave the nest. Some teeter back and forth on railings to learn their ways of balance.  This one decided to take a nap on the deck floor. I first couldn't figure out what was going on as if it was dead or injured. It started to blink and I could see it was just resting on the warm deck wood.

One of my taller Asiatic lilies is blooming.  It showed buds early but I didn't notice until I looked out seeing all that color. I moved this from the old place where I remember where it use to grow against a fence. 

I am not good at remembering names on any of my hosta. I think I brought this from my old place but I don't remember buying it.  What is a surprise is that it is growing to be so large. It is dwarfing a couple of hosta growing next to it. it is also crowding out one of my iris. I may just move the iris. 

I like placing my ceramic, slab-built on posts to elevate them to accent the garden. The ceramic pieces don;t weather like the wood birdhouses. 

When I brought in the flag last night I saw a moon that needed to be photographed. I don't understand how the earth can cause a shadow on the moon to create a half moon. It was too perfect at a half that I had to just go back and snap it.  

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bird Feeder Wars.....

 It is an interesting growing pattern done by this rose.  Most times the middle rose is a different color and and informal number of blooms. Eventually they all fade to a white color. 

Direct sun light really spot lights the yucca blooms in early morning. The individual blooms afre bell shaped.

Water grass is an enemy to the looks of my garden flowers. The rains really made them grow tall and strong.

I got most of the clearing done until my friendly new neighbor came for a chat.  I didn't get done after he left but I can go out tomorrow and finish up small parts of it that need to be cleared. Close to be done but not done.  I did get all the grass tossed into the recycle bag. 

I was pleased to see this male goldfinch showing up to my feeders.  A female was there at the same time but was on the thistle seed feeder.  I have the neighbors now feeding next door and they are getting birds that don't come to mine. I guess I need to buy the expensive seed to bring them in to mine. 

Competing bird feeder wars, would make a great tv show.  Thanks for checking in today.

A Bunch of CLOUDS

 The morning clouds were moving and bunching in many formations. We are headed to a very hot day again today. 

It is a welcomed sight at my feeder as the goldfinch have not been at my feeders very often. It is a female as it has browns on it more thant the bright colored male goldfinch. 

It was so busy pulling seeds through the screen that it was only one time that it turned to look around the area. 

The many birds are hatching out new ones so I will be hoping to see the goldfinch pairs young ones. 

I spent time in the front yard this morning, cutting back more salvia stems. The hardy geraniums are starting to bud again so I wanted them to have as much light as possible. I also took away salvia from the struggling coneflowers and a hosta. 

Out in the backyard the lilies are starting to show blooms. I had forgotten what the next set of blooms will be but I am now seeing these buds as well as some on Easter lilies. Some other Asiatic lilies have some good buds on them. 

I worked at watering in my zinnia seeds and marigold seeds that I planted yesterday. I was wanting a good rain to do the job but we didn't get a drop as the front went north of us. I should mow tomorrow if I follow a schedule but the heat of the last few days seems to be slowing down all growth now. I guess we have moved out of spring and the summer weather seems to be setting in even though it is early by the calendar. I keep cleaning out water weeds and things do look better. I took off a bunch of spent iris stems and that does help clean things up. The peony heads will probably be hit in the near future.Right now it is too hot to be out there.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Middle of the Week....

The yucca shows off at the corner of the house. It shines next to a knock out rose and the yellow privet bush.  There are hosta growing there too and some are starting to shoot up blooms.

 As a kid I would only see these kind of plants in the deserts or sand hills of the west.  They would start to show up at western Nebraska as we drove old highway 34 heading into Colorado. The yucca grows well here as well as some of those cactus you see out there.

 I started a new row of hosta along the stairs last season.  They seem a little slow filling in but I know they will do well as I started one two years ago along the stairs.

 These hosta are doing well here at the bottom landing of the side stairs. It ends up being in the shade in the afternoon from the neighbor's house.  It has to do with our house on a 30-60 degree alignment of our lot.

 I snapped this the other day of my carryover begonia.  I think it could use some new soil but who knows when that will happen. I dug around into the two raised bed areas to remove some of the watergrass. I raked it out some and added a new bag of top soil on both areas.  After taking a break I returned with last years zinnia's seed scattering hundreds of seeds.  I am hopping for that rainstorm to get them settled in and start their sprouting. I also threw som emarigold seeds on another area where sunflowers are already planted but are not up.

 My old birdbath full of moss rose is ding well and I gave it a good watering.  It is good the old bath seaks as it will help drain away excess water on the plants. It was a busy morning but I have taken a good break and I am having a good afternoon.  My wife has a roast in the crock pot and the house is smelling good.  Thanks for stopping by today.