Nothing for Today!

After two weeks of rain and clouds, I woke up this morning with a clear sky!

I don’t think there’s any more meaning to that than, well, hopefully the spring monsoons are over.

The birds are weird and picky now.  Some days they only eat out of the feeders with the oranges and DESTROY those oranges. Other days they won’t touch them and I wind up washing most of the jelly out when I clean, but the little feeders with deeper wells are empty and the little round feeder that is smaller is completely cleaned out. ????  Orioles are weird.  I still love them. Woodpeckers are a little more predictable. I’m still in hope I’ll get a pileated this year or next or any.

Garden is the almost done. Now that I planted the built in beautiful stone flower boxes at the entrance of the house, I keep seeing more

places that need annuals. This is where people can wind up in financial ruin… just another flat or two of petunias, begonias and I’ll be done!  I’ve added some winter hardy succulents for ground cover, to fill in some spaces in the front.  Well, by added, I mean they are in their cute little containers sitting in boxes while I decide where to put them all.

The nice thing about the rain, other than almost killing my baby lavender I’m trying to grow and had set outside, everything else is just lush and posh green, the roses are so laden with blooms, as are the peonies. The new hydrangeas I put in that I thought were dead when I got them are now all green and plush and some have even bloomed.  Water and hydrangeas are super important!

I did realize have not one iris  – not sure how this happened.  Will fix that this year, my sister has to dig up all of hers when they add a new garage, so she’s going to bring them all over this fall.

I’ve done more container gardening for my tropical stuff. There is going to be some peak crisis moment this fall where I will be quickly trying to figure out how to winter them over, but I’m sure I’ll get it sorted.

I did have one last moment of insanity on the container plantings. I love mangoes, and I saw a mango tree they say you can container garden!  I had No idea, I thought this was impossible. Well, I have a banana plant that seems to be doing really well.  So why not? Then I sorta forgot about it, which happens a lot when I get great ideas.

Or I thought I had.  Well, amazing, large patio pot arrived, and I puzzled over it… why did I order this big, beautiful outdoor vessel for… crap, a mango tree I didn’t order!  I had no choice then, right? I can’t have an empty patio pot – and it is a large one! – so I ordered the mango. And a plumeria.  They both show up today. And then I’m cutting myself off from all plant shopping, except maybe a handful of  petunia flats and..

The back yard, I planted my first vegetable garden in years. The birds are in love with it. I put some feeders next to it with minimal bird food, but they just sit there all day, nosing about for worms and bugs. Next year I’m planting a bigger garden for them.  I’m using that area in the picture on the far side of the pool.  The rains came so fast this year, I had not gotten the little patch of grass on the pool side of the fence cut (this is an old picture, the pool is fenced off from the puppers now, too many Louis bumped into one of the little girls and they went in the pool and sunk to the bottom so we had to jump in and fish them out really fast incidents. Not so bad when it is the shallow end – hard work when it is the deep end.)  Finally got the grass whacked in that veggie garden area, and that made the birds happy, they now have all kinds of dried grass for nest building and more hiding areas for bugs.

My summer uniform is now set as well. I found this lady on Etsy selling these beach cover-ups. They are nice and long and flowy and comfy, but they have cuts on the side, so I can just pull the front sides together tie them and keep it out of my way when I’m doing other stuff.  Today begins swimsuit days, and if the world is right, every day from now until September is a swimsuit day. I have a large and getting larger collection of suits to cycle through.  I get up, put one on, throw on linen pants over them if I need to go out or just throw one of these beach cover-ups on. I keep thinking I’ve avoided the Mrs. Roper look, but I’m not certain if that’s really true.  Eh, not sure I care.

I did play around with lilac perfumes, just to throw in a random perfume thought.  I’ve always been content with Frederic Malle En Passant for my lilac. It’s not realistic lilac, but it is everything I want it to be.  But

I snagged a couple of cheap more realistic lilacs – the Pacifica French Lilac and the Highland Lilac of Rochester, and, wow, okay, they are very lilac, and I’m really really loving them.  Maybe because I also do not have a lilac bush, which I’ll fix next year too.  This probably completes my Mrs. Roper transformation.

Winners of the Masque Milano gorgeous little Lost Alice – Taxi and SamanthaL  Just click the Drop Us a Note at the top, send me an email

with your address, remind me what you won. I will give you a quick reply “Got it!” email so you know it didn’t wind up in my spam filter and get the sample out to you. Congrats, I hope you love it!

Is the sun finally out where you are?  Do you have a solid, What happens at the Gardening Store Staaaays at the Gardening Store Policy?

  • Cinnamon says:

    Glad to hear your weather has improved. Had optician appt this AM — thus new glasses and no more indulging in garden stuff for a while. Could we have pictures of the stone troughs please.

  • Jennifer S says:

    Your yard sounds amazing and I applaud your mad gardening skills! I only hope to have enough skill to plant a lilac bush which I have always wanted….although they didn’t seem to last long this year in the northeast from what I could see.
    Good thing you were right there for the pup rescue. Yikes!

    • Patty says:

      Oh, I am a crap gardener! I’m mostly guilty of killing poor innocent plants. but some do live! It’s my theory – if they are right for the spot and not too delicate, and they live, then it was meant to be. But I still mourn a lot of plants over the years that just did not make it. Daphnes are at the top of the list. Every place I’ve lived, I’ve usually gotten to two take, and I feel slightly less bad about it because they are a crap shoot. Right spot, good sun, drainage, etc., and some live, and some die. So far the four I planted this year are still alive.

  • Musette says:

    LOL! Mrs Roper RULES! You WERK that, girl!
    I’ve been really good this year, garden-wise, mostly because I want to see how my editing from last year works out. One 6pk of petunias for the hummers and some Stargazer bulbs I got on clearance because 76 lilies just isn’t enough, is it!
    Two tomato plants because ain’t nobody need 8, like I had last year. 16 collard plants because I eat them almost daily and they freeze beautifully. Mostly have to check for moths, once they leaf out but that’s part of the fun of gardening, murderizin’ pests.

    Orioles are bonkers – they show up, then vanish. I gave up trying to lure them because after one year of Fabulous they just never returned.
    I’ve got one bathing suit. I had to get another suit because ‘somebody’s’ pool cleaner ate my other one… hmmm… but since I don’t have a pool it will probably stay dry until I go see my bfffe (she has a pool – and she DOESN’T have an auto pool cleaner! LOL!)
    If I did have a pool I would have a bazillion suits, though – but I would be a nervous wreck with a small dog (heck, any dog) around a pool. Glad you got the fence up!

    xoxoxo

    • Patty says:

      I loved Mrs. Roper, I aspire to her greatness. I’ll have to get to editing. Right now I’ve discovered two patches of poison ivy that I’m dealing with – one in the front and one in the back. I’m annoyed, how those little devils slipped in, grrrr!! Probably already there, I was just clueless. How many stargazer? I need more lillies, for sure. I have some glad bulbs I need to get planted, just trying to decide if I want to put them in the ground or in pots. I’m leaning towards pots.

      Orioles, you are right. I’ve still got some, but they have clearly found another source and better one for the food they want. All the rain has to have a ton of worms out and about, which I think I read they really need this time of year. I broke down and got the stupid worms, even added water to plump them up. Not getting any takers on them. 🙁

      Oh! I found your bathing suit! I have to remember where I tucked it, but I can send it to you if you want!

  • Dina C. says:

    Your property is gonna be a veritable Eden this year! I hope you have great weather so that everything grows and blooms just the way it should. Sounds beautiful! I laid down 5 bags of mulch in my tiny backyard and have committed to keeping it weeded and cleaned up this summer. Normally it gets wildly overgrown, leading to me getting bitten by a snake last summer. So this summer: no snakes! (fingers crossed!)

    • Patty says:

      Yeah, the weeding is perilous. My yard is like three weeks away from being a dark, scary forest. So I have to keep all the vinca and other wild things that aren’t supposed to be growing trimmed back. The rain puts this off, so it’s a BIG job right now getting everything that shouldn’t be there trimmed down. I don’t like to kill stuff with chemical much, except the poison ivy, I nuked it today and will keep nuking it weekly until it is afraid to show its little three-leafed evil design. So snakes, yeah, I don’t weed without sneakers on. When I forget and do, I get really nervous midway through traipsing through all the vinca that is about 6 inches high, going, probably only frogs, right?

  • March says:

    Oh, all this makes me so happy! Your yard is going to look amazing, and I totally support ALL the purchases, you will find a spot for them somewhere lol!

    • Patty says:

      Luckily, I have endless spots! All the tropical stuff is in the big planters, whew! that was a BIG jo. Pool wasn’t quite ready today, but I had to slide down into it for a little bit just to cool off when I got done.

  • Eldarwen22 says:

    Our iris plants didn’t do very well this spring. We just had the yellow one have one bloom and the purple/blue one only had one bloom too and usually they go crazy with the blooms. Our Lilac bushes didn’t even bloom this year. It was just too cold and wet for a lot of the late spring flowers due to it being so cold and wet this spring. Looks like I will have to burn 2 Lilac candles to get my Lilac fix and wear En Passant.

    • Patty says:

      Oh, crap, that sucks! I’ve seen the lilacs around here, and they have done well, as have the irises. But I think the right weather can just send them off. Sorry!

  • Kathleen says:

    I used to love watching Three’s Company; all of the characters were wonderful
    I’ve planted two lilac bushes in the new backyard. The original blooms froze in a spring deep-freeze; however, the plants look healthy. I adore Pacifica Lilac Blossom perfume and body cream.
    I have plans this weekend to plant my first tomato garden in a planter box, and I will welcome more birds into my backyard.

    • Patty says:

      That show was a classic. Once I finish all the Seinfeld seasons on Hulu, I think I need to do that one.

      Oh, so happy about your Lilacs, they are pretty sturdy. I had some planted in the wrong spot in Denver, not enough sun. Moved them, though they died, and then they just came back like gangbusters.

  • Tiara says:

    Mrs. Roper. Two words that reveal your age if you utter them or get their meaning. I’m guessing there’s a few Posse readers wondering, “Who is Mrs. Roper?” A lilac bush is on the list for our fall landscaping plans since we finally have the right amount of sun and space. Sadly won’t be near a window that can be opened to enjoy though.

    • Patty White says:

      You know, some cultural references are pretty old, but maybe there will be a weird Google rush for Mrs. Roper. Lilacs are perfect. I’ve always had them, and the woman who owned this house before me was an avid gardener, though you can tell it got to be too much as she got older, but the lack of lilacs and iris are perplexing? too much catmint, which is going to be hell to keep under control, and the wisteria on the shady side of the house is sending runners to Nebraska, as near as I can tell. 🙂