RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING

Yesterday afternoon we had a great rain. It started out as a gentle drizzle and turned into a veritable downpour. Let's see, Saturday afternoon, it's raining, can't garden, what better thing to do than to lay back on the sofa, read a book and doze to the sound of raindrops on the roof? It was great and I slept for awhile but woke up to find the raindrops had fallen not just on the roof but right through it. The skylight in the kitchen has leaked off and on forever but frankly, with as little rain as we've had in the last few years, I'd forgotten about this minor problem. Mopping up wasn't too bad (wish I'd cleared the kitchen table of all the papers and mail and junk that accumulates there) but the thing that worried me was all the little Post-its with the ink washed right off. Hope those notes weren't important. I'll be darned if I can remember what any of them said. Details.
There was a nice rainbow afterwards. Looking around the yard today at what plants the rain beat down reminds me that it's about time to do some serious cutting back. The mailman still hasn't forgiven me for the Nicotiana Sylvestris that he has to push back to get to the mailbox on the porch, and on the other side is a Graham Thomas rose that prefers to reach out and touch someone. The Russian Sage is practically sprawling on the ground, and has been helped along by the House Finches that like to land on the long wands and peck away at the purple flowers. Anyway, I won't have to water again anytime soon, and the birdbaths all got a fresh refill which helped along my lazy Saturday afternoon. Oh, I finished the book, "The Lost Van Gogh" by A.J. Zerries. Nazi-looted art turns up in the U.S., long convoluted plot. Interesting read, no gardening in it though.

WHAT'S LEFT FOR NEXT MONTH?

Thanks to a really hot June, a lot of plants are out of whack here and they think it's mid-August already. The Russian Sage is in full bloom, and the asters aren't far behind. Blue Mist spirea can't wait either. I predict I'll be at the garden center in August buying leggy petunias to fill in the bare spots. The good thing is I've been eating Roma tomatoes for a couple of weeks now and didn't have to wait till summer is practically over to see some ripe ones. Oh, a lost opportunity the other day: I was sitting on the back porch caning a chair and kept hearing a "ticking" sound. I knew there was a Black-capped chickadee flying back and forth to the sunflower seed so I didn't think anything about it. When I finally looked up from my weaving there was a Broad-tailed hummingbird buzzing the empty sugar-water feeder. I'd taken the feeder out of the garage that morning and set it on the bench thinking I'd fill it later on. I zipped into the house and quickly made up some sugar water but of course the hummer didn't come back. The darn bird is punishing me, I'm sure.

Here's a double-flowering pink althea (Rose of Sharon) that's in full bloom in the front yard. When I planted this several years ago, it was a twig and unfortunately, having no vision of the future, I planted a Butterfly bush about two feet away from it. (It's behind the Rose of Sharon in this photo). Both bushes grow to about 7 to 8 feet tall each year and they're a little too firmly ensconced to think about transplanting either one so it's always a race to see who can grow faster and get more space for itself. The Rose of Sharon won this year. The only time the buddleia hogged the whole area was the summer after a huge snowstorm mashed the althea flat and I had to chop it back to the ground. The Butterfly bush had some beautiful racemes that year, and the butterflies didn't need to play hide-and-seek with the Rose of Sharon to get to the goodies.