This diary contains photographs of what is going on around my yard this week, a couple of old house photos, an attempted cat rescue in Kentucky and a side trip to the Berkshires Mountains in MA — in other words a hodgepodge of things.
I am very late planting this season as I am still putting in my vegetable garden! Yet my tomato plants that are already in the ground have really put out a lot of green fruit this week because of a northeast heat wave we just had. Perfect weather now as the high yesterday was lower 70s with the low being lower 60s. Connecticut Governor Malloy on Thursday lifted the statewide drought advisory as our water levels are back to normal. The last three years were the worst drought that Connecticut has had since the 1960s.
“black and blue” saliva in the urn is footed with goldilocks lysimachias and is ready for the hummingbirds. The urn has its feet surrounded with blooming perennial succulents
Window boxes crammed with everything from lemon cypress to gryphon begonias to “main street river walk” coleus
I’ve really been getting into hanging pots the last few years. I keep all of mine on one apple tree limb. Right now I have six hanging pots plus Spanish moss and a stag-horn fern
below is the same apple tree taken when I bought the house in 1987. The house had previously been abandoned. The tops of the fabric awnings had rotted away, broken attic and downstairs windows. Basement door open. Opposite side of the main section had a large amount of roof missing and was open to the sky. Full of 55 gallon drums and snakes. On and on. Shhh — don’t tell the town but I lived here 6 months without a kitchen.
I have to laugh about the tall evergreen in the middle of the below photograph that is almost like a topiary. It was originally about six or eight inches tall and I used it once in a pot as the Christmas centerpiece on the dining room table.
Above was the front porch when I bought the house. I would like to think that I’ve made it a bit more welcoming. I decided to buy a couple of Eugenia topiaries for the front porch pots this year but I had seen them in the $65-75 range. I finally found a nursery that had two for $39.95 each. I was planning to buy them one day but earlier that morning had gone to the grocery store where I found these two marked down from $19.95 to $12.95 a piece. I planted all the hosta this year. I hope to extend the stone walkway on the left around to the back side.
I’ve had a lot of fun working around the stone horse trough. I’m currently letting the water level go down in the trough so I can pull the elephant ear pots out and spray paint the tops black as I dislike their plastic lips showing. I hope the blue lobelia in the root stump does okay.
I once mowed off the frog’s right hand but he has still stayed with me for many years
a splurge was buying this mountain laurel, Connecticut’s state flower. I was guaranteed that the blooms would start out pink but then turn white.
Sure enough this is them a few days later. I like their waxy bloom
Peaches are doing fantastic after a zero crop last year
blue false indigo is doing very well
A bargain was the wire sphere below. We went to the Berkshire Mountains last weekend and just so happened to run across Campo de' Fiori's once a year annual sale. This sphere currently sells there for $138 but because of damage on this one it was marked down 50% to $69. I overheard the lady offer it to several people for $50. Finally I moseyed up to her and said I heard her offer the piece several times for $50. She asked if I would consider a lower price so shaking my head yes, she said $30 and I immediately said sold. Can you see the damage? I didn’t think so. It’s made with a heavy gauge metal wire and it got bent along the left part of the connection between the two halves. I have moon-flowers growing in the pot which will cover it and I can beat kishik with the first bloom of the season. Also while there I bought the bell jar in the diary’s main photograph on sale for $10.
Since 2/5 of my household is Latin (Kenny Jose and P), I decided to give the driveway side of the yard some color
orange zinnias above and orange and yellow freckles coleus below
these huge water hyacinths for $3.95 were a bargain. I already have three new plants to break off of this one.
the poison ivy berries are doing quite well and I expect a good crop around the yard
the path around to the compost pile in the woods is lined with cottonwood fluff which is the cause of my current allergies.
So far the rabbits and I have each upheld our ends of the agreement. I don’t bother them eating all the clover so they don’t bother my plants. My yard is full of rabbits this year and crawling with the most snakes I’ve seen since maybe living here. Probably because of some construction in the area.
I have been spending a lot of time recently in Kentucky. This young lady was seen drinking out of my parents water fountain.
I realized she was homeless when I discovered her one night lying with her one kitten in a rocking chair next to the backdoor. In the mornings I would find her nursing there. During the day, she would leave her kitten in a back utility room where the door had been left ajar by someone. I found a rescue group that would take them both and they provided two carriers. This was going to be easy as I had the mother eating food in one of the carriers. All I had to do was shut the carrier door and then shut the utility room’s door to catch the kitten. Needless to say, I really screwed it all up the night before I was to catch them and the mother moved her kitten to an unknown spot across the street. I had to leave the next day so I figured it just wasn’t meant to be. I’m going back down to Kentucky in a few weeks so maybe I’ll try it again.
As I said we made a trip to the Berkshires last weekend. When I suddenly slammed on the brakes and turned the car around, P was laughing as he already knew what I was doing. I had just passed a kindred soul. This tree caught my eye as I’ve been doing the same with straight limbs for several years.
and the person found a perfect spot for their rock balancing
this plant looks like a living heart
I thought this was beautiful and cleaver using dried fern stems lying on birch bark in several places throughout an upscale garden store
I love the black “johnny jump up” (viola) in a dried wreath as an outdoor center piece
this is the back of the store with a $2,000 stone sculpture for sale
and last, I had shown the above ornamental onion in bud a few weeks back and Kishik asked to see it when it bloomed. So here it is below with the front door as a backdrop.
I’ve become the new owner of a 2000 Ford V6 truck with less than 100,000 miles. I am afraid it is going to get me in serious trouble. I was always limited to size and quantity in my station wagons but now the sky is the limit come auctions, flea markets and tag sales. I’ll be flying to Kentucky to pick up the truck and I am sure I’ll have things in it for my trip back to Connecticut. My brother, sister and I are in the very slow process of emptying my parents house of almost sixty years of accumulations. If that wasn’t bad enough, the house behind it on the next street was my grandmother’s and we have to do the same with it. Plus a large tool shed.
And that’s it for me. So what’s going on in your garden and world today?