Tuesday, July 7, 2015

July Already ? ???

 

Well it seems a month has sped by in the hills. It was a month of break downs here and at my Moms. Seemed like whenever something leaked, clogged or broke it at her house it would happen here at ours.
From leaking water lines to leaking natural gas lines. To clogged up sewer and drain lines to broken water heaters and dry water wells. It was the month from hades. We’ve gotten mostly all back in working order all except getting Moms water well dug deeper. I love it here on top of these giant hills until we start digging water wells. Ours is 460 feet deep and Moms at only 400 feet needs to be dug deeper. So we are now waiting on a very busy well digger to do this final (I pray) chore.

Clematis Rasphody Mailbox
Rhapsody Clematis

June was  a wet month here filled with a little rain most every day. The grass and weeds loved it but some of the flowers and the tomato plants not so much. Not complaining too much because I did not have to water the many plants but I have this eerie feeling that it will bite us back come August to go straight into a hot, dry desert instead of the tropical weather we are having now. It did show me that I would not do well in the tropics. Smile


Achillea Oretelas Rose

But the older established plants in the garden grew on despite what the weather threw at them.
The Yarrow plants handle dry and hot weather but  they seemed not to mind wet feet and are blooming beautifully. I am afraid the kids cannot see through the yarrow  in front of them. I think they need higher seating.

Astilbe White

The many Astilbe plants were at their best in June.

Astilbe pink

The Bellflowers were happy with it all.

Clustered Purple Bellflower

I ran to take pictures when sun did shine.

Campanula Alba2
Campanula Alba Peach leaf is a spreader in my garden and I have been transplanting some of them into the woodland bed because they do not mind the shade.

Campanula Peach Leaf Bellflower Woods

 
Aquilegia Purple Columbine

The Columbines bloomed beautifully in June.

Aguilegia Nora Barlow Columbine
Rose Barlow aquilegia.

Foxglove_Beardstongue Native3
I was thrilled when I spied these native Foxgloves blooming in the woodland bed. Got to love free flowers that the birds bring into the garden.

Foxglove Digitalis Yellow2
The yellow perennial Foxgloves get bigger every year.

Geranium Apple Blossom2 Kathleen 

This Apple Blossom Geranium was started for me by Kathleen @ Kasey’s Korner, knowing that I had lost (or killed) mine. Smile I was so excited when I got it  the mail. It started blooming in June.
Thanks again Kathleen.

Geranium Zonal White Splash
Every year I find a new geranium to plant to add to my collection.
The new one this year is “Red Splash”. It has white petals giving way to a deep pink or red in the center and I just love it. It is planted in one window box with white euphorbia and red petunias.

TipsyPot
Red Elphin Impatiens are in the shady Tipsy Pots this year with my little red wagon behind it. My Dad had built this wagon for me years ago and I have put it through so much gardening over the years. Will the back board broke from the bed this spring. My daughter got me a new wagon for Mothers Day but  I cannot let go of  the red one because Dad made it for me and he is no longer around and when I see it I always think of him so it sets in one of my garden beds. So it has been retired and I am thinking of moving it to a sunny spot and filling it with pots of flowers to get a few more years out of it.

Milkweed Pink Butterflies
Some butterflies did show up in June when the milk weed started blooming but still there are not as many as we had been getting before the aerial spraying for gypsy moths the last three years.

Kitties
And finally as most of my old followers know I always have new kittens every spring that grow in my flowerbeds. This year there were 2 new ones, an all gray one and a black one with white paws are now growing and smashing down flowers where they try to hide. They had eaten their lunch and decided the feeding bowl was a great place to take a nap.

I hope you all are enjoying the summer and your gardens.

Blessings & Happy Gardening,

Lona

9 comments:

Nadezda said...

Lona, your kittens are so cute!
I love pelargoniums ( 'geraniums' as you write) as well and have some double and I liked how your combined the pots with pelargoniums. Good idea!
I think June is always unpredictable month, here it was cooler that other years. Hope we will have more hot days in July.

Diana LaMarre said...

Hi Lona,
I love your red wagon accent...so special because your dad made it.

Your garden is looking beautiful as it always does.

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Oh my, I'm sorry you've had so many things happen at once, but glad you've gotten most of them taken care of.

Your blooms are gorgeous and are always a treat to see.

The kitties are adorable.

Enjoy the rest of your week ~ FlowerLady

Patsy said...

Sorry about all the troubles--but your gardens are so pretty, as ever.
Enjoyed the tour.

RobinL said...

I always thought I'd want more rain during our hot, dry summers, but this has been too much of a good thing! I'm with you girl. I always thought I'd want to live somewhere tropical, but now I think I'd just melt if I did. Uncle!

Kay said...

Hi Lona,
Wanted to say thanks for commenting on my Fotoblog.

I love all of the flowers in your garden. So pretty.

You asked about the drought here in SoCal. Yes, it is affecting the entire state. Everyone in the state has to cut back on their water usage, even though I know some of my neighbors still water their lawns every day.

They are not really rationing anything except the water we use for our yards. We are allowed to water 2 days each week, but only in the early morning and we can only let the sprinklers run for 5 minutes.

The keep saying that there will be a big El Nino this winter and we are hoping they are right because we really need the rain it will bring. So many of our lakes and reservoirs are almost dry.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Lona girl what is the story behind the kittens ? How many cats do you actually have girl ? LOL
I love your pastel coloured yarrow it is so pretty !
All of your plants look very happy and satisfied with their lives in your gardens.
I can understand you hanging on to the wagon ... that is a sweet reminder for you.
I wish we had more butterflies here ... I have so many plants that they love but I just don't know where they are ... maybe they don't like Kingston ?LOL
Loved seeing your plants (native foxglove is really pretty and a nice surprise for you via bird ? )
So sorry to hear of all the break downs etc ... once something like that starts it does seem to drag on.
Hope all is well by now for you !
Take care
Joy : )

Indie said...

Love all your beautiful bloom, and the campanula and foxglove are especially pretty! I think those kittens take the award for best of all, though - so cute! Here's hoping the rest of the month goes better for you guys!

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

Adorable. Those kittens are cute!
Hope all is well currently.
Getting into fall finally for us. Was was too hot last week here.