We've recently had some hot and humid days, along with the stormy weather they often bring. Luckily, we didn't get the worst of them. Friends not that far away had 2" hail at their house, while we only had rain. Today is going to be a pleasant day with moderate temperatures, so I will be taking advantage of that with some puttering around the yard, probably focusing on more planting.
In the meantime, here are some things I've seen recently in the yard.
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| Siberian iris. |
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| One of the storms had a rainbow at the end. It was hard to see through the clouds, but it was there. |
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| Impatiens. These are planted in front of Ward's shop in a planter his dad made from an old hot water heater. |
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| This lettuce didn't come up last fall when planted, but did this spring. |
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| The peas are blooming. |
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| Another rhododendron is in full bloom. |
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| It's kind of hard to see, but this little bee on one of the rhododendron blooms was more loaded with pollen than I have seen any other bee carry at once. Notice the pollen sacs on either side; the back was covered like that, too. |
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| One day, I planted 12 zinnia plants, and the next day, they all looked like this. So disappointing. But I guess all of God's creatures gotta eat. |
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The first Stella Dora day lily has bloomed.
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| Purple sage. |
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| Our soil is very rocky, and I've been collecting the rocks we dig up. Bless, asked to see my rock pile, so here it is, Bless. It's several inches thick. What looks like dirt are pine needles on top. |
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| Not all rocks make it into the pile. |
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| We just discovered that a woodpecker has been at work on an evergreen tree behind Ward's workshop. Woodpeckers destroyed a maple tree at our old house. I hope this one doesn't meet the same fate. |
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| Also, behind the shop, we encountered this juvenile blue jay. (Debris is in the background from the neighbor's garage, which is under construction.) |
Until next time...
