Seeds and Sprouts

The seeds are for the birds. It was my idea to put up a feeding station. Lloyd took it over as his own and the birds and squirrels are very happy about that. This feeder is for the squirrels, but the birds enjoy it, too.

Lloyd likes to offer choices. Note the layering of a mixure of seeds, fruits and nuts with sunflower seeds. We seem to have an abundance of finch food, so he mixes those little seeds in as well.

We don't normally put out suet in the summertime, but the birds do enjoy it. A flicker and downey woodpeckers come around regularly, but even the house finches peck away at it.

We enjoy watching the hummingbirds but were having a problem with ants. Found the little red ant barrier at the feed store. It is a cup filled with water. The ants can't get past it to get to the feeder.

And a good bit of news! The rolls that were put out three days ago have begun to sprout already. Click on the picture to enlarge so you can see them. I've marked some with red arrows.

I marked a weed with a blue arrow, spotted spurge. This grows flat to the ground and is really rather pretty with its pink stems. The plant has shallow roots and grows like a flat plate, with a diameter up to about 12-16". I've been pulling them up because my mind tells me "weed" -- but I'm wondering how much harm them might do if I let them grow as a green ground cover where the flower gardens are a bit sparse. A weed is a plant that's growing where you don't want it, so if I want it . . . lol

Too Late to Plant?

A couple of weeks ago I saw some of those roll-out flower seed packs on sale for 99 cents at Menards. Who could resist? There is one section of the bed by the shed that  has just two lavender plants in it and has been a constant source of crabgrass all summer. I knew they had to be kept pretty damp to get the seeds to germinate and knew I'd be a way for several days last week, so I waited until today to put them out. Two parts are the Fragrance collection and the rest are English Garden.  Have no idea what's coming, but it has to be better than crabgrass!

The backyard is looking green thanks to a lot of watering.

This new piece of yard art showed up a few days ago, thanks to a good friend. :) Not sure it will stay in this spot, but it adds some welcome sparkle. That little cluster of brown leaves behind it is a lilac that survived weed-whacking and mowing only to succumb to the heat (or maybe overwatering). 

A couple of weeks ago I found some Genista broom moth caterpillars finishing dinner on the baptisia. They had stripped it entirely. I didn't get a picture of the caterpillars but you can see one here. This poor thing had its tap roots cut last year when I moved it and now this. Today I noticed that the bush is coming back. Hardy little soul! (And yes, I see the crabgrass ... *sigh*)

The lantanas are growing well. Some are nearly as bit as the mums now. These mums don't seem to want to flower early, as do the ones in back. The heat is throwing schedules off.

Just beyond the walkway in the photo above is this turtlehead. Despite watering, it gave up. I'm not pulling it yet, as last year it was nearly this dry looking and yet put out a blossom. Call me an optimist! 

The echinachea that loves the heat is getting to the end of its tether. The hollyhocks are a dead loss. This part of the garden needs rethinking next year.

Here's a long look at the front yard. Notice the rough-looking grass near the steps. It's a mix of crabgrass and clover. The restof the yard is Bermuda or wiregrass. It has been slowly taking over. In another year or so, I think the crabgrass/clover mix will be gone.

The south end of the front yard is in much better shape than the north end.

Here you can see the Bermuda/wiregrass creeping into the cosmos. It takes constant pulling to keep in somewhat in check, but it does make a nice carpet of green.

And to finish up on a depressing note, see the crabgrass among the bricks. I managed to pull about half of it out this morning after taking the picture. The temp was rising and so was the humidity, so the rest is left for another day.

A New Visitor to the Feeding Station

We have been enjoying the bird & squirrel feeders and birdbath almost as much as the visitors to them. I was the one who pressed to get something set up, but Lloyd has taken over and makes sure his little fur & feather friends have all they need. This is the main dining room. He has another shepherd's crook with two more feeders. There is a hummingbird feeder attached to the screened porch.

I made a  list of all of the birds we've seen so far. They include the usual run of cardinals, sparrows, nutchatches, downey woodpeckers, house finches, blue jays, golden finches, mourning doves, hummingbirds, and more. This past week we spotted some new visitors: Eurasian Collared Doves. they are a little bigger than the mourning doves. One of them came for several days and then one day showed up with a friend. I was so glad the camera was nearby!

Dahlias

The heat has been relentless this summer, watering almost a full time occupation. Yet amid the sad and drooping plants there are some lovely surprises. The large dahlias are left from last year. Although they are somewhat delicate and need to be taken up in the winter, I didn't bother. With the relatively mild winter, they survived and are thriving. And remember the new dahlias in the front yard that got pulled out? I noticed that one or two had tiny new leaves, so instead of tossing them, I planted them in the back yard. The small green plants are growing well; seven of the eleven have so far survived.

The Heat Takes a Toll

The echinachea seems to love the heat. The hollyhocks not so much.

June 24, 2012, was the date for the local garden tour. The heat kept a lot of people at home, but two friends and I did our best. They finished the tour, all fourteen stops, but I gave up after seven.  The only photo I'm going to share is of Wally George's tomatoes. He takes a bag of MiracleGro potting soil, cuts a square opening in the top, and plants the tomato in it. He punches holes on the bottom for drainage. You can see the bags below and the amazing height of the plants. And yes, they were loaded with tomatoes, not just a lot of foliage! (That's one of my friends in the photo to give it some scale.)

It doesn't happen by itself

This photo was taken June 16, 2012. The narrow bed outside the fence was choked with weeds and wiregrass. It took a good couple of days to sort it out.

On the other hand, sometimes Mother Nature has a heart. This daylily is growing in our neighbor's yard but decided to pay us a visit. It put out four blooms for us. By the time I'd noticed it, the buds were too fat to push back through the fence, so of course we were forced to enjoy it. :)

The urn broke to pieces during the winter. I wanted to throw it out or use some of the pieces as yard art, but Lloyd grabbed the Gorilla Glue and some paper towels and put it back together--sort of.

The rest of the photos were taken June 21. I keep forgetting to snap the shutter when I'm outside. The 100+ temps had come upon us by now. The petunia pots had been atop the urns by the shed but were getting cooked in the afternoon sun, so they were moved to the patio. They look nice by the little brick wall.

In the front yard, a combination of heat and mishandling in the greenhouse caused the dahlias along the front walkway to turn yellow. The nursery very kindly let me choose replacements. I took lantanas. In this climate (Zone 6), lantanas are annuals. While I'm trying to put in as many perennials as I can, I knew the lantanas would grow quickly and add color. Here they are among the hardy mums left from last fall.

While I was out front, the neighborhood cat walked past outside the fence. I snapped this shot and couldn't resist having it made into a small jigsaw puzzle for Lloyd.

Our wedding anniversary was June 19, and although this isn't strictly garden, I want to share the nifty multi-colored rose in the bouquet. The florist said something about splitting the stem and using dyes, but whatever the method, the result is eye-catching.

Flags & New Plants

By not getting back home until mid-April, we missed a lot of the spring flowers. To add some color to the garden, Lloyd brought out some of the flags. This corner has a Japanese quince that had two blossoms left when we got here. It and the mums will be green until the mums bloom.

I gave up on the puny dahlias that I'd planted along the front walkway and replaced them with lantanas. Lantanas are annuals here (zone 6), but I was desperate. They're small but will grow quickly and add color and fullness to the hardy mums.

The Russian Sage is beginning to bloom. The tall stalk on the right grew up faster than the rest and put out a lovely flower stalk way before the others began to bloom. Strange.