Some Like it Hot. .

Not me, particularly. .

but some of the things blooming right now mustn't mind it too much!

The last two weeks have been above 100 degrees daily, with winds blowing 15-30mph nearly daily. .and often at night.

Those conditions make everything ragged and tired looking. .

but, alas. .

there are still new things blooming. .with promises of even more new blooms to come!

The area near the waterfall reservoir is looking better each day. The iceplant (short purple plant on the right) has been blooming it's head off for over a month now. I love the electric purple!

This annual salvia seeded itself from last year. A friend from work told me to expect that. .and I was excited because it was so pretty last year. .the only problem was. .that last year it was red. .pretty flowers, but clashed ferociously with the electric pink ice plant. I noticed as I took the photos, that the plants don't seem to be red this year, but a hot pink. .which contrasts nicely to the iceplant! Great!! In the fall, I may try to catch the seeds before they fall, and reseed them in my memory garden. 

Speaking of the memory garden, a few of the zinnia seeds I scattered there are blooming. I only uncovered a few patches to plant annuals in, as I am trying to improve the soil and kill weeds this season. I have tried to grow moon flowers for years now, with very limited success. .My friend GonSS shared some seed with me, and I was T-H-R-I-L-L-E-D to see that 2 little plants have come up (they are the grayish plants behind the zinnias). .and one has a flower bud on it. Meaning. .if I can keep these two plants alive the remainder of the summer. .there is a decent chance that they will establish themselves in this little area for years to come. .if you have never smelled a moon flower in the evening. .you are missing out!!

The trumpet vine is finally growing. This little guy has sat, neglected for years. .not dying, but never really growing either. .I decided last year that I really wanted more action out of this bush. .so I purposely gave it a little care. .and it bloomed. This year, with some extra water, it seems to be really taking off. One of the projects that I would like Jeremy to help me with is making a rustic cedar post trellis. .a very sturdy one. .made to last decades. .so we can train the vine onto it. .creating a nice living, blooming screen. 

A few four o'clocks are starting to bloom. .these are a great place to watch sphinx moths in the evenings!!

I still have sunflowers EVERYWHERE. .some are the nice red color, and others are just plain 'ole yeller, like these. .This one came up next to one of the butterfly bushes. I like the extra pops of color!

This was the orange butterfly weed that I showed a month ago or so. .something munched all it's leaves off. .but I noticed that the leaves are coming back on full force, and it will bloom again soon. The other new butterfly weed plants seem to be establishing themselves well. .so I look for them to bloom next year too!

Little red spider zinnias readily self-seeded this spring. They are quite dainty. .and would have made a cute little July fourth bouquet. .if I hadn't been too hot to go out and snip them!

Western ironweed from High country garden is blooming this week near the pond. .

Right next to the gray headed coneflowers. Both are native. .and seem to like their spots in the garden. This one has gotten quite tall, nearly 4 feet. I am hoping to do some manual reseeding of these in the fall too!

Here's another baby that we found about a month ago. .See his wide eyes. .it was just before he scattered under the bush. He was thinking. ."AHHH, there is the curled headed one that is always trying to catch me!!" They are W-I-L-D things. .This one, when you can see it from the other side, is very odd looking. .like a skunk. .but not quite. It will be fun to see what it looks like when it gets big!

The denver daisies are blooming. .and so far, showing off better than the ones I had last year! The pony tail grass next to it is invading the space. .and may need to be relocated in the fall.

The zuni crapemyrtle is blooming. .but some creature is spinning webs around all the flowers. .so I will mix up my neem oil and slick 'em down to see if it will help. They didn't die back last winter. .so I was excited about their height this year.

My garlic harvest is drying on the picnic table on the deck. I thought they were dry last week and put them in  a plastic sack until I could deal with 'em. When I retrieved a bulb to put in the rib glaze on the 4th, I noticed that it was getting musty. .so back outside they went to dry some more. I hope they will be alright.

My final picture is of the stone planter. .It has evolved so nicely. .and I'm pretty excited by it! All the plants seem to like their setting. .and hopefully, I won't need to replant it next spring, as most of them are perennials. 

Still hot. .

No rain. .

BUT. .

Chances of rain, and cooler temps are slated for the near future. .we'll take whatever we can get!

Have a blessed Lord's Day!! 

Stone Planter Makeover

I mentioned the other day that we have been doing a lot of the spring gardening over the last week. Plants are slowly moving out of the greenhouse and into the gardens. .seeds are being sown. .being watered. .and germinating. .garden centers have been visited and plants purchased and potted. .and earlier this week. .my sweetie helped me mulch the Johnson grass out of the garden.

Even though it isn't yet May. .I feel so behind on the tasks to do, since our last freeze was nearly 2 months ago now!! It just SEEMS like it should be the end of May instead of the end of April. 

The task at hand in today's post. .was more of a "don't know how to fix it" problem. .

with a solution inspired from our recent antiquing trip!

 

Back in 2010, we put in a new limestone raised bed. .

click here to read my confession of addiction to limestone 

and see how this project really started!!

If you have read my blog for very long. .you know that I have a love affair with blue foliage. .namely spruces. .and now junipers. so immediately I found this dwarf globe spruce to add here.

 

I added some periennial plants to fill in. .

One weekend, and a few dollars later. .

and voila. .

project complete!

It looked immature. .but nice. .that summer.

Enter. .drought of 2011. .

and nearly 60 days of heat exceeding 100 degrees. .

with many of those exceeding 110!

Blue spruces DON'T love heat. .

or drought. .

or people who don't have enough time in their day to coddle them in such climates. .

And, THIS is how they show their true feelings!!

UGLY!! 

And sad. .but mainly UGLY!!

BUT. .because of my other addiction. .

plants. .

I can't resist a walk through the garden department in ANY store that has one. .

which led me to my inspiration plant at Lowes 2 weekends ago!!

It goes against my blue shrub scheme. .

but has a gorgeous chartruese foliage with golden tips.

I was SOLD when I read arid dry on the plant tag underneath the moisture requirements. .

SIGN       ME         UP

And home it came.

This little arborvite is a Golden Globe variety which will get about 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide. I bought a couple of red dianthus (Fire Star). .a yummy smelling plant that will show up year after year (with blue grass-like foliage, mind you). At our local nursery (on the way to last week's golf meet). .I found some coreopsis and blanket flower. .both good, hardy drought tolerant plants. .some red (redhead) and yellow (trusty rusty) coleus plants and red and yellow snapdragons. It seems that most of my snapdragons either overwinter or reseed themselves easily. .so I am hoping that everything in this bed will be permanent, except for the coleus. .which I can easily take cuttings of to use next year.

So. .we'll start again in 2012. .and hope for better luck with the growth and development of this bed!!

In other flowering news. .I have been working on this sunny, hot zone this year too. The orange honeysuckle is in full bloom, and seemingly has attracted a hummer. .I saw it on the fly earlier this week. .now, if I could just find a few minutes to sit quietly and watch for it!! They are so fast!! I've moved several herbs to this bed. The tall plant to the left of the photo is actually a flat leaf parsley. We don't use that much in cooking, though maybe I will learn. I really planted it for the swallowtail butterflies to feed on. I am surprised at how big this one has gotten.  I have about 12 seedlings in the greenhouse yet to plant. .I will have to find a spot bigger than what I thought I needed to accommodate them. This week I also added some chive starts and purple basil that I seeded this winter. My old herb garden is on the east side of the house. .and on the north side of the steps going up. .I have finally deemed it too shady for the herbs. .hopefully, I will like them among the flower beds! That seems to be the rage right now!

A fuchsia, planted in an antique wire egg basket (another treasure from the flea market. .I got a great steal on that because I also got an antique oil can for Jeremy's shop!) These blooms caught my eye at Lowes. .and so it will be another experiment around here as to whether I can get it to live or not! They are in the shade of the honeysuckle vine on the deck. It's too windy around here to get anything to grow nicely in hanging baskets!! 

The roses are in full bloom this week. .and the peonies are starting as well. The soft strip inferno garden is incredible. .and I am waiting on the 2 colors of penstemon to burst into bloom this week before showing photos of that. We have a quieter weekend planned. .Tristan FINALLY gets his foot surgery done. .and the other boys will be at the races. .hoping to get some of the new blooms posted this weekend. .

SO. .

don't forget to stop back by and smell our roses!!

Enjoy your weekend!!

Rock Haulers Anonymous

Hi. .my name is Melanie. . and I am addicted to limestone!

I wish I could say that I was recovering. . but I'm afraid that day will never come!

Around here, we have a strange notion of entertainment.  On the one day off from the craziness of this June, Grant and I found ourselves overhauling the north side of the deck while C slept and the other two boys worked on 4-H projects.

Now, you can see for yourselves how absolutely horrible it was. (this was BEFORE any work was done by G and I)  The plastic lattice that was supposed to live a lifetime, has been crumbling away slowly. This last huge hunk falling to the ground, got my brain to rolling. 

YIKES!!  What a disaster!!

We took the pickup to mom and dad's last weekend, and I lifted these monsters from the ground UP onto that pickup bed, while my 14 year old gave directions (to the tune of "You said only 10, that's like 12" and "Are you about done yet?" and  "I CAN'T lift that" to finally "MOOOOOOMMMMM, that's enough already, the pickup won't move").  I have long ago decided that I may someday be confined to a wheel chair secondary to arthritis from overuse. .but by golly, I will AT LEAST have something decent and lovely to look at!!  So the loading of the rocks, to me, is a work-out. .not WORK.

However, I won't lie to you--Grant was snapping these pictures. .and I had to laugh out loud when I got to this one--seriously, in the picture above, I was standing in 98 degree heat at 3 in the afternoon, by myself thinking. . ."whose STUPID idea was this anyway???  But being the type A OCD gal that I am, I pushed on to the grueling end! 

I unloaded rock and formed the raised planter.  Grant and Dev hauled in fill dirt, Tristan played with Cami when she woke up, and

J finally showed up with his saw to work on the steps.  I was pretty proud of myself, because, not only had I gotten this WHOLE load of rock myself, I also shopped in Lowes like a big girl--and gathered supplies for the steps and railing ALL BY MYSELF!! We hadn't even talked about it yet--I must be growing up!  The only thing I didn't get was the actual wood for the steps (because that's where I got confused), which he picked up today.  But the best fun of the whole weekend, was the part where we stopped at my aunt and uncles' to wander their gardens and say hello.  I was asking them the location of Hongs nursery in Wichita (primarily because they were open late enough Sat, that there was a little hope that I could get a spruce of some sort to put in the planter.)  My aunt came back out with a sale card for Harvest Greenhouse in Newton.  The sale started 30 minutes after she handed me the card, and she called ahead and they advised her that they had several different types of blue spruces.  JACKPOT!! Their shrubs and perennials were 51% off.  HEE HAW!! It was a fabulous place with beautiful stuff. .and I came out with a little more than I intended, but it worked fabulously!!  The spruce (which I adore) is a dwarf blue globe spruce.  It will get 3-5 feet tall and about 5 feet wide--perfect for the spot.  They also had a couple other varieties of smaller blue spruce trees that will someday HAVE to find a way to my yard!

And check this out!! A rudbeckia called Cherry Brandy.  I have only tasted cherry brandy once in a jello shot at our family Christmas (don't all families have jello shots for Christmas dinner???)  But if it tasted as yummy as this plant looks, I'd drink it often.  I have NEVER seen such a vibrant chocolate/red velvety bloom such as this.  WOW--I hope it lives--I bought two. .just in case (always planning ahead!)

And these--Denver daisies (gloriosa daisy)  The picture truly doesn't even do them justice.  I got a couple of 6 packs of those and placed them in several different beds.  This one is up against that globe spruce.  By the time the spruce gets big enough, I will be able to transplant these beauties somewhere else, maybe to Becky's yard.  I also picked up 3 new coneflowers--Tomato soup, Meriengue, and Sunrise, and some creeping Jenny.  Grant helped me transplant some of my sedums into some of the holes in the rock.  And Voila. . 

A new Sweet Spot!!

J will finish the steps this week.  Grant's new table will replace the octagon one after the fair--and I will post a complete finished picture then--hope the flowers are still alive!!

Today was my last day in the health department in Oklahoma--next week I will start in a different county, one clinic each week.  The big boys were deposited at church camp yesterday.  I thought Grant was going to do ok this time (We had to go get him on day 2, two years ago--and didn't make him go back last year, I made him go this year), however, his good friend was so homesick that his parents already picked him up last night.  Grant called sobbing right after that.  HOWEVER, it is after 10 right now, and I haven't heard from him yet.  God is teaching me the meaning of "fervent prayer"--as I have prayed more for this situation over the last two days than I have prayed for any other outcome thus far in my life.  I sure hope that the hand of God is with him right now.  Tomorrow, might be another story--as I told him he could call me again Wednesday if he just COULDN'T stand it--and we'd talk! Homesickness is such a heartbreaking affliction!! We look forward to picking them up Friday and heading into one of my favorite holidays. . July 4!!

We'll be busy cooking and putting finishing touches on projects for the upcoming fair!

Where has the summer gone???