The Yard in August

The first week of August was a continuation of the dreadful heat wave and drought...but at last some rains fell--so welcome and refreshing.  The response was immediate--greening lawns, fresh flushes of flowers, and plants given up for dead assuring us of the resurrection.

Portulaca is both a bedding and a container plant.

Evidence of drought marks the rejuvenated dogwood.

CREPE myrtles tower from 10 to 15 feet beside the pool.

The emerald ash-borer is a pest--but so pretty.  

Oregano is a spreading perennial here....but struggled in the drought.

Surprise lily-- a gift of my BFF from 2nd grade!

This is the only plant that liked the conditions.

More surprise lilies on the way.  Mary Jane was my first friend in Fort Smith, and we have been in touch for 57 years of
friendship and sharing.  These bulbs came from her family garden in Fort Smith, following her dear Mother's death.

 God alone knows what the blogspot program will do with this post.  It has no rhyme or reason that I can discern, but I hope you can see the renewed flowering in my yard, which gives me such joy.  The 'happy tree' is a mango (grown from a seed) that clearly loves the heat and humidity.
It lives inside each winter.

The Mean Old Lady--Revealed!

In response to requests from a few of the denizens of CrossWorld (the Comment community at WordPlay, the NYT puzzle blog) I am happy to share the photographs that the DHubby shot this morning.  

He got an early start!  

This photo seems to have less of the MOL and more of the quilt, but that's okay.  This is called 'Le Jardin Folklorique' and was completed last year.










Let's try another:

 

I was out picking figs; guess I really got 'into' my task!  The fresh figs are just wonderful, though--worth all the effort.








I was also pulling weeds in the asparagus bed:

Darn!  He missed that shot, too.
How about when I was clipping the elderberry bunches?

Well, alllllmost!  You can see my Crocs--good footwear for the dewy grass.











Let's go back inside and do some more pictures with the quilts!

Oh, that rascal!  The DHubby PhotoChopped me out of the picture!  This piece is one of his favorites, I guess.








How about the one I finished most recently?

Big quilts can be so hard to handle!  These Ohio Star blocks were gifts from my friends in The Holey Fingers (our church guild.)  They combined to create a handsome quilt, which I was planning to hold up for you to see.




My, my.  Back to the drawing board, I guess!

Oh, all right.  Scroll down.

Not great quality....but I'm seldom in the pictures since I am the one shooting them!

                                  

This Week in the Garden

We have had more than six inches of rain in the last 10 days, most of it from the storm systems that battered our state (and then moved on to blast other states to the east as well.)  The ground is saturated, but most plants are delighted.  

Missouri Primrose

New this week are evening primrose (so-called) and Missouri primrose (sometimes called sun-drops in catalogs.)  The plants are completely different, and I suspect they are unrelated.  The pink flower is found in abundance along roadsides just now, along with red clover.  The bright yellow flowers are a joy to see in the yard; I look forward to them every year.  There is a little story with these:  we were traveling in up-state New York (near Westfield and Fredonia) and stopped at a barn sale.  The little stone house and stone barn were set in a lovely spot shaded by huge oaks; the elderly pair had lived there all of their married lives and enjoyed telling about building the barn.  I admired the blooms in the yard, and the little wife asked if I would like some of the plants--"They need dividing anyway."  She pulled out a transplant spade and dug a chunk on the spot; I carried that in the car all week and plunked it in the ground when we got home to Ohio.  It spread prolifically, and I gave samples to friends all over town; when we moved to Arkansas, I brought some along. 

Oenothera--Evening Primrose

This is a volunteer, but very welcome.

The iris bed was rather battered by the winds, and many of the stems were bent over.  The brave little irises, undeterred, lifted up their heads and bloomed on.










Two of the climbing roses in the yard are 'oldie but goodie' New Dawn roses.  The repeat-blooming, fragrant climbers have truly lethal thorns, but are so beautiful and adaptable that I consider them worth it.  I had to tear out a lot of honeysuckle this spring....really got ripped to shreds trying to reach in among the canes.  Ow, ow, ow.

Lovely!  

The heavy rains stripped the petals from the early-blooming Mier y Teran roses, but these are putting on quite a show.

Next week:  Shasta daisies.  

Welcome to July

Serious heat and humidity set in a bit early, even for Arkansas.


Some plants are happier than others.

The orchid (a gift from the realtor when our Ohio property sold in 2003) is quite content on the patio as long as it is watered often and protected from much direct sunlight.

This bloom struck me as somewhat odd (or even sinister) but it has grown on me. Speckled things are just charming, I guess.

And there are other heat-lovers, too. I am looking forward to ripe figs before long.

This 'bush' is now about 8 feet tall, equally broad, and very handsome. I have it heavily mulched with leaves at the base. What can't be shown is the wonderful aroma of this plant's foliage--unique and exotic.