Before the Rain Came

Oh, just humor me here. I’d like to remember those sunny days in the garden.

My neighbor called this a mock rose. I’m not sure if that’s right, but suddenly I see them all over town. Strange, I don’t remember ever seeing this flower in the yard before, so it either took a while to mature or I am totally spacing buying it last year.

Lots of blueberries this year. Still hoping to make it to a you pick place though. We go through at least 20 pounds a year… probably way underestimating that.

This cool flower has an awesome story. We were eating at Word of Mouth Cafe and exploring the little garden during a long wait (quite common there). I was explaining plants to Tuesday and the care taker of the garden was so impressed with our interest that she insisted on pulling this up to give to us for our garden. So very sweet, we treasure it!

Yay! Our little paw-paws are going to make it! Check out my DIY slug solution, copper tape right around the trunk. I forced myself to pull of the one fruit I found developing. It’s a must do with very young fruit trees in order for them to focus more energy on growing bigger and stronger instead of producing fruit. Also note: Yes, I have not been a perfect weeder this year. The belly gets in the way!

Tuesday makes sure I don’t get to try many of these:

Which might not be such a bad thing… I bit into one, took a look at it and had JUST missed a potato bug crunching in my mouth, EWWWWW. I’m trying some natural solutions now so hopefully they don’t all get munched up before we can eat them.

Our peonies blooming for the first year. This frilly lady…

And her understated friend. 3 more varieties still to bloom. We picked them out last year from Adelman’s. It was so hard to choose, but some day when they are all filled in above the rock wall I think they will be just stunning.
I was going to take it a bit easy on the yard this year, seeing as how I’m due in the summer and worried about keeping up with it all. I couldn’t resist a whole bunch of tomatoes, and then I needed to fill up some spots with annuals. Then I decided annuals were so much work that I planted a few new perennial borders… and on, and on. I really do think I’m done planting now (unless a Rose De Berne tomato plant falls in my lap, I couldn’t find one this year). So it’s going to be mostly upkeep: dead-heading roses, preventive treatments against pests, pruning, thinning, and of course, weeding. I also must not forget to water the plants on the porch. I’ll keep you updated on my progress. For now the sweet smelling rain has me indoors; organizing and sewing. I’m not complaining. Much.

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5 Comments

  1. That mock rose may be a Rose of Sharon. They can self-seed, I think, so it may have just appeared out of nowhere.
    I love the peonies!

  2. That peony (the darker one) is beautiful! It reminds me of the fake flowers we used to make out of tissue paper or Kleenex. One of the activities my mom used to come up with when we were driving her nuts, I think. Weeds? I see no weeds. I have no idea what you’re talking about.

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