Hot June

The weather over the past two-and-a-half weeks has been HOT and DRY. We've either topped or have been close to 100F heat indexes every day. I've been caught in pop-up thunderstorms all over the state, but none at MY HOUSE. That means I've been busy watering my vegetable and herb gardens and my new plantings in the patio and azalea gardens, but I have not yet watered the front porch beds or the lawn. Well, today it looks like I'll have to. Lacecap hydrangea in the shady front bed and shasta daisies in my perennial bed are looking pretty awful. In the spring I planted hot pink geraniums, dark purple petunias, and white sweet alyssum in these pots on either side of the front door. I was really hoping that by the Fourth of July, they'd all be bursting with color, and I'd have a creative red-white-and-blue container. The alyssum did great for a while, but it hasn't put on any new blooms. Any suggestions on how to get it to put on more? It is the lacey plant in the front.

Happy Friday! I can't wait to get out in the yard tomorrow. I've got a few things on my list.

• Replace lantana in the front porch bed. I FINALLY finished weeding and cleaning out the bed, and now I need new lantana plants. Can you believe I haven't been able to find ANY 'New Gold' lantana at the garden centers this year? WTH? Three years ago the garden centers were drowning in the stuff. All I can find this year is some no-label lantana that is lemon yellow. But I want 'New Gold'!
• Pull up fennel plants. Again, they never made bulbs, just started producing a flower stalk once it got hot. This year is the last year I try fennel in the spring. It just doesn't work. I am going to try it this fall, but it seems I never have enough space for it in the fall.
• Plant butternut squash 'Autumn Glow' and beans 'Burpee's Tenderpod' where fennel was.

As hot as it is supposed to be tomorrow (96F is the high, with a heat index well above 100F), I am sure that will be plenty!

Signs of Summer

I had a great day on Saturday working on one of the "bad and ugly" spots in my backyard. I'm about 70% done, and I can't wait to finish up this project and show everyone my accomplishments in this section of the garden! In order to finish it fully, I've got to wait for fall so I can divide some massive daylilies that were needing to be divided 2 years ago. I do love dividing plants. How cool is it to start with one big plant and end up with two, three, or four little plants that will grow into big plants?! I think it is GREAT.

Part of my "bad and ugly" rehaul this Saturday consisted of dividing four ornamental grasses (variety t.b.d.) into ten clumps, planting two 'Tropicanna' cannas, dividing two agapanthus (a.k.a. Lily of the Nile, 'Ellamae' variety) into 6 plants with some babies that I will try to root.

A couple weekends ago, I moved 3 junpiers. Two of them never took to the new spot, so I pulled them out and planted three new junipers in their place. Then, I remembered that I had two blue oat grasses drowning under all those daylilies, so I moved those, too. The oat grasses reseed freely, so I am hoping that they'll take off in their new spot. I have lots of space for them to fill.

During all of this work (oh, my aching back!), a nice rain shower came through to cool things off. I was working in the rain under a big oak tree, but then I started to get soaked, ran under the porch, and watched the storm pass. I started working in the yard around 9 AM and before I knew it, it was 3:30 PM and I hadn't had a bite to eat. I was really "in the zone"!

On Sunday it was pretty dang hot, but Chip manned the grill for a cookout and pool party with our friends. I made my fish tacos with baked fish, grilled pork tacos from a Rick Bayless recipe, and Chip made grilled banana splits! Everything was so good. It really feels like summer is here.

My perennial corner in the front garden is saying summer is here, too. Just this morning one yellow gladiolus and one shasta daisy ('Becky' variety) have opened up. It won't be long before this area is full of color. Last week, the echinacea popped open, too. This variety is called 'Sundown'.
And my mother-in-law brought me a cupcake and this gorgeous vinca because I'd had a tough week. Isn't she sweet?!
Happy Monday, y'all! Have a good week.

Chance of Snow

Snowy Skies. It is a cold, wintery day here in Central Mississippi. It is only 43F out there now, and the weather forecast says we could get snow showers this afternoon and evening. The cold weather seems to have come upon us all at once. I still have blooming shrubs and perennials all over the garden.

The leaf situation in the back yard is getting serious. Something needs to be done about this, but I don't know what because I am meeting Leah in the Delta tomorrow morning to go Christmas shopping at McCartys Pottery in Merigold, Mississippi.

We plan to go to Peter's Pottery, too, which is just down the road in Mound Bayou. After all of these fun outings, we will have dinner at Madidi in Clarksdale, some drinks at Ground Zero Blues Club, and will shack up for the night at the Shack Up Inn.

Madidi and Ground Zero are both Morgan Freeman's. Who knows if he'll be there, but if he is, I plan on getting my photo taken with him. As for the Shack Up Inn, I am a bit nervous about staying in a shack when it is supposed to be around 28F. I am bringing flannel pajamas and my 20F sleeping bag. And plenty of hot chocolate and Malibu coconut rum, too! A friend turned my on to that concoction on a camping trip in the Smokies. You really must try it!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Let the holiday shopping begin!

Gardening Gifts From Friends, Part 1

Back in February, my friends and I started a fun little game called Pay It Forward. Ladies, you haven't forgotten, have you?

We promised to make and deliver something handmade or homemade to the first 3 people to comment on our posts. Susan, Rachel, and Ginger signed up on mine. Well, I am happy to announce that I am close to done with everyone's Pay It Forward gifts. They have taken so long because they are garden-inspired and inspiration takes time. At least for me it does. I hope to deliver all the gifts after Labor Day.

As for Ginger, she delivered my gift back in May. We met up for coffee at Sneaky Beans in Jackson, and we had a GREAT time. We talked about our gardens and just life in general for hours. She also gave me a few passalongs: a lemon cucumber seedling, nasturtium seedlings, and some crocisma divisions.

I LOVE the Pay It Forward gift Ginger made for me! Its is a cute little birdhouse, all decked out for the Ole Miss Rebels. I am so impressed with Ginger's handiwork on the birdhouse. It really looks fantastic with its bold colors and perfectly aligned peicing.

No feathered birdies have taken up residence quite yet. I love how it brightens up this corner of my garden. Go Rebs Go!

Its Friday, Y'all!

Yep, it is Friday. I just made myself a Pimm's cup and decided that it was time to do some blogging! I made my Pimm's cups by filling a glass with ice, filling it 1/3 of the way with Pimm's, and 1/3 of the way with ginger ale; then I topped it all off with cranberry juice and a lemon slice. Yummy!

I am enjoying a short break from all the rain we've been getting. The last time I blogged about my garden, we'd had two straight weeks of heat indexes above 100F with no rain. This time, we've had rain for a solid week with tempertures barely reaching 93F over the past two weeks! It has definitely been a welcomed change, but we really are getting tired of the rain. Chip and I are dying to get our new kayaks out on the water, but rainy conditions do not make good paddling conditions. I promise I'll post some kayak pictures if we get out this weekend. Weather permitting, we are going to paddle up the Yazoo River on Sunday afternoon.

On the garden front, things are going pretty good! I think I'm proudest of some of my containers this year. On the brick patio in the backyard, I've got two containers. Begonias in a strawberry pot and a yucca with purple heart. Both look great. I'm sure that has something to do with all the rain we've been getting.

The perennial garden has filled out beautifully! In the spring I had pink creeping phlox, 'Homestead Purple' verbena, purple irises, and Carolina jessamine. Now that it is late summer, I have lantana, 'Becky' shasta daisy, and echinacea 'Sundown', 'Sunset', and 'Ruby Giant'. The lantana is doing better this week than it has done in the past two years. Blame it on the rain I guess, because it just exploded in blooms this week.

My rose garden isn't looking too shabby either. I've got one more shrub to move from my house in Oxford: Evelyn. I've got a great place for it since one of my junipers decided to bite the dust. Perfect - I say - because I don't really like the junipers anyway. The spot I have is in the front of Golden Celebration. I think this should be okay since Evelyn is only supposed to be 4 ft x 3 ft.

Molineux:

Tamora:

Golden Celebration:

And Ambridge Rose is still hanging on even if she isn't blooming right now. The roses are flanked by 'All Purple' Mexican bush sage. I love this plant! I divided it early this year and it has multiplied just like I hoped it would. It fills in with beautiful green foliage all summer, then in September it puts out long, purple blooms. Just perfect. If you look closely you can see the lamb's ears that border my rose garden and the snail statue that keeps a watch over the entire bed.

In the spring, I divided my shasta daisy and moved some Russian sage into the middle of all that Mexican bush sage. I think the Russian sage is too short to thrive here, so I'll probably move it again. I am thinking that next year the shasta daisy will pop up vigorously and will keep right up with the Mexican bush sage. We'll see. Remember my gardening mantra: There are no garden mistakes, only experiments.

I've gotta update my banner with that!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2009

What's blooming...

in my herb garden?

Thyme

Lavender
Catmint "Walker's Low"

in my backyard?

Hydrangea "Endless Summer"

Gardenia "August Beauty"

in my veggie garden?

There's not much blooming, but I have leeks, lettuce, Swiss chard, and fennel. And sugar snap peas, eight-ball zucchini, and yellow crookneck squash.