Gardening, anyone?
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I have seen opossum, deer, coyotes, skunks, foxes in our back yard. Even saw a duck one time? Of course we have ducks , geese, swans, nearby. Plenty of other birds and rabbits and chipmunks and squirrels. We had cougar sightings but I never saw it. At first they said it couldn't be. They don't live here. Than they had so many people report it that they didn't dismiss it entirely. Then one day in Chicago a policeman spotted one and shot it. Told y'all".
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Teka - love the blue and white kitty on the deck...
Lookforward - yum!
TwoHobbies - supposed to be 108 here this week.... and almost zero humidity. We're on watering restrictions (3 days a week, on specific days) and we've taken to saving excess water from the house to go out and pour into rain barrels, from which we can hand-water plants in the yard. (My front-porch umbrella seems to have done the trick - no fried hydrangea!)
Scottiemom - if you get any rain, send some our way!
Our development is ten years old, but the land used to be out in the country, close to the foothills. We have lots of Canada geese and hawks, and I've seen possums in the yard, along with an occasional squirrel, and pesky field mice and rats near the waterfall.
But last year a BIG coyote walked across the top of my back fence (only 4" wide), so I called the cops. (We have neighbors with small pets and kids, and the cops are cool.) When the cop got here, he looked at the fence, at me, back at the fence, and said "That would be highly unlikely, Ma'am." Then I showed him the pics on my cell phone. He started laughing and said that when the guys heard the dispatch, they thought I was imagining things. He asked me to forward him my pics for proof.
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Sheesh... 112 degrees here today with 9% humidity. What with the high temps, bad air, and nearby wildfires, it hurts my lungs to breathe the minute I walk outside. The air quality is officially UNHEALTHY for everyone, and many outdoor events have been cancelled.
I spent just a few minutes outside this afternoon, deadheading some shrubs and cutting some smaller branches, and was wheezing and panting and my heart rate was double what it usually is. There was no way I could hand-water any plants after that. I had to shower, wash my hair, use my sinus rinse, my oxygen concentrator to get my heart rate down, and then my asthma nebulizer to open my airway.
If you are in the middle of a heat wave, BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!
If you're in the middle of a rainstorm, send me some, please!
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Well, my garden has been hanging on in this very hot summer. We are getting some more rain this week and ready for fall. One of my seedums that blooms in August is looking like it will be out soon!
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Jazzy, Love your patio furniture and the garden around it.
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Thanks Wren. Guess I should post it here too....
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Jazzy your table set is lovely but would look better with a big pitcher of sangria on it and some chips and salsa.
I do love the blue. I have a set with a tomato red. It has really faded after a couple of years so I was thinking it would be nice to replace them with blue because we have a blue hammock Turns out the cushions are dang expensive so then I thought maybe I'd Rit dye them the same color Blessings I hope you got a break from 108 heat. Yep that's dangerous temps.During the heat wave I moved my pots to a shadier part of the deck and after a couple of days of reasonable temps I moved them back. Now I see it's going to be hot again! Sigh.
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TwoHobbies/Jazzy: also surrounded by a coterie of friends enjoying one another's company. (not hinting. Much.)(
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TwoHobbies a picture of Sangria would be a wonderful addition to a warm humid summer day.
We have had heat, humidity and lots of rain, not anywhere as hot as some of you have been experiencing . My garden is getting very overgrown and I need to do some pruning, especially the tomato plants some of the plants are 4 ft tall and are bearing very little fruit.
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Jazzy - yep! Definitely sangria and chips and salsa, and a boatload of friends to dress up your nice table and chairs!
TwoHobbies - we're in for a cold snap! Only 95 this coming weekend... get out the jackets!!! LOL Also, maybe you could change the color of your cushions with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I went to a workshop and saw upholstered furniture that had been painted and waxed. It was smooth and supple, not like what you'd imagine painted fabric to feel like. You can Google tutorials.
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Blessings, I had never heard of painting upholstery, but I googled it and wow, it seems like that would be the easiest solution since the cushions are still good, just fading. Thanks for the idea.
Lookingforward your garden looks healthy and very happy.
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The sweltering summer heat has taken its toll on my garden and with my recent addition of a puppy, am spending lots of time keeping remaining plants out of his mouth
I do, however, enjoy seeing everyone's summer gardens. Keep those pics coming and I'll keep enjoying vicariously.
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Teka... Your garden looks very pretty :-)
We found this piece of driftwood at the beach this morning.. Bought it home, added some broms and shells, and it's found a happy spot in the garden !!!
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Lucy you are very artistic, looks great
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Love it Lucy. . .I need some garden magic. . .too hot right now and too many skeeters.
Scottie
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Magiclight- my gardens much the same. Some of the hardier surviving planted pots tanked more plants this week Things are starting to cool down meaning 80s vs. 90s to 100 as it has been all summer, so I plan to plant some cooler weather items soon. My seedums are looking like they are ready to bloom and excited for those!
Would love a photo of new puppy!
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My anniversary roses. . .dh and I are also going to the Botanical Gardens tommorow. I love photographing them.
Scottie
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Scottie lovely anniversary flowers, enjoy your outing.
Jazzy it must be difficult gardening in a hot dry climate,
Teka I have never grown plume poopies, they would be a nice August addition.
My almost 4 ft tall Lilly, I will be moving it in the fall, not in the best spot now.
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Scarlet runners overtaking my porch swing.
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Hi friends, well, the past few years we have had wetter summers with the El Ninjo wet cycle plus summer monsoon rains. This year, the whole thing has been a bust, although we have had some more moisture lately. Earlier this week there was much rain. The gardens are doing okay, with the drip and sprinklers, but the pots well, most of them are about done or dwindling even with regular watering.
But alas there are always things that thrive. The bottom photo is a great hanging purslane that I got at Lowes for $5 back in June, and that is doing well. I got another purslane that is in the ground and had incredible blooms this year and making a note in my gardening file that these are big winner is this climate. My first year getting these and they seem to be a sort of succulent that does well. I will bring the hanging plant in for the winter and hope other will make it through but may pull that out and winter it indoors.
Also a picture of my backyard seedum (autumn harvest I think?) that is mauve colored and one of my favorites in the yard. This is quite budded out and looks like it will begin turning color soon. I have one out front that is a grape purple color and may bloom first, think it went last year in August. I love having some late season bloomers in the garden.
I have started eyeing more mums for a few smaller pots and thinking of getting some of those in a few more weeks as things cool down. Gardens will remain in bloom here until around the end of October when the first hard freeze will come.
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Teka your blueberries look delicious. We have saskatoons bushes, I don't know if you have them in your area. They are abundant on the prairies, they are meatier and seedier than blueberries. Mine have been hit by some blight and we had no berries this year.
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Lookforward, The city was passing out trees and my neighbors got a service berry. It's another name for saskatoon berry. It's trained to be a small tree.
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Wren you are right about the service berries (saskatoons) being small trees, that is what mine are.
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I have been housebound because of surgery and we decided to go for a ride outside of the city . I am sorry I didn't take pictures, but the farmers wheat fields were beautiful. I understand why people want to live in the country , we stopped by a small lake and it was so peaceful and quiet, and I was only 25 minutes from my house
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Lookie, Sorry you've been housebound. That's no fun. We drove thru an area around Hood River that raises wheat and hay and thought it was very beautiful too. I kept taking photos trying to capture the color because it would look great in my living room. Hope you're up and about soon.
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Hi friends- we are getting quite the storms this week, so the moisture is good for us but some scary lightening and street flooding around. My sedums are about ready to do their thing, I see color on the buds now!
Lookingforward- when I was a young person, we used to take my grandfather every Sunday after our family dinner together for a "ride in the country". I lived in a quasi suburban- farming town in southern Connecticut and we would ride around looking at flowers, fields of hay, or corn or other things. Sometimes down the main drag in town too to see what had changed. For a young person who could not drive like me and an older person like my grandfather who could no longer drive, such a thrill to have those Sunday rides. As I learned when home bound after a couple major surgeries a few years ago, also a happy ride for those that are recovering to be able to get out and look at something beside the tube or the four walls. Your time out sounded lovely!
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My parents loved to go for country rides too. I still feel the stress evaporate when I get out in the country and I only live in the suburbs! luckily we do have a lot of forest preserves and nature trails near me.
My neighbors maple tree is starting to turn red! Yikes autumn is on the way despite my denial.
If anyone has a picture of a serviceberry I would like to see one This is supposed to be a good native tree/shrub for my area and I need something small.
Teka blueberries are my favorite but we dont have good soil here for them. I am envious.
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Twohobbies here are two pictures one of the berries and the other of the tree in spring.
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