I had been worried that the rain would pass us by, but just in case, I wanted to get Sarah-Flah’s Giant No-Mow Flowerbed finished (mulching), and wanted to get a start on the irrigation setup while it wasn’t a million goddamned degrees.

On Thursday after work, I was too tired to do much; I don’t actually remember whether I repotted the tropical hibiscus on Thursday after work, or whether I did it at some point in time on Friday. Not that it matters much because Charlotte ate most of it anyway. Well, it was pretty while it lasted!

I finished the mulching on Friday; it was sunny, but not too uncomfortable even in the sun. I had been thinking that I wouldn’t have quite enough corrugated, and was wondering where I could score just a bit more, when UPS delivered my drip irrigation stuff…the 500′ of distribution tubing of which came in a big box, which gave me just enough to finish the bed. Then, I thought I was going to run out of mulch, but I had about half a bag left when I’d finished, which I actually need when I decide whether I’m going to plant anything in between the bee balm and coneflower in the old part of the bed. Anyway, it’s finished. This side looks bare because it’s mostly shrubs, which need to be spaced for their mature size, not the size they are now.

Drip irrigation stuff. I ended up with mostly spot-watering, and a couple of sections of emitter tubing.

On Friday, I also wanted to get the few plants I’d got for 75% off into the ground. I really didn’t need them, but I’ve never heard a bee argue about having more salvia or penstemon, and the little bees certainly like threadleaf coreopsis. Plus…75% off perennials? Hell, yeah!

They all ended up in the giant flowerbed. I hope they’ll do well.

I didn’t take pictures of the irrigation system; mostly because my fingers hurt too much to grip anything, but also because there’s not much to see; it’s buried in mulch, and only the little 1/4″ lines and the emitters are visible at the base of the plants. Anyway, I was short a few 1 GPH emitters, but ordered more, and otherwise, that bed is done. I’m going to use spot watering for the Trail of Tears bed, and emitter line for the Honeysuckle Horseshoe. I ordered two more soaker hoses from Walschwitz; I’m not sure yet where those will end up, but I got quick-connects for them because I’m more likely to actually use them that way.;)

Random picture of the pond, since it looked like shit all winter and I was awfully tired of seeing that.

On Monday, when I should have been preparing for work the next day, I pulled out the yellowed Dianthus, then pulled up a few volunteer zinnias from the fence line and transplanted them. Hopefully, they won’t mind.

The rain brought out some little friends, one of which was a Grey Treefrog that didn’t read the “Grey” part of his birth certificate. (Just kidding…they change colour to suit their environments.)

These are either orioles that fell into bleach and lost their orange, or they’re the biggest damned hummingbirds I’ve ever seen.

This doe is smaller than Charlotte, but her family isn’t–she has triplets!

All in all, not a bad weekend. It started raining a little on Saturday evening, then it rained lots on Sunday, and a little on Monday. In total, we got roughly 4.5″ of rain, and we needed every damned drop!

Well, not necessarily turtle power, but I believe we have turtle poop! Yes, I am revolting enough to have taken pictures. I’m always very happy when something I’ve done to improve the lot of some wild creature is even a bit successful. I didn’t know until after I’d decided to make turtle pools that boxies like to soak a few times a day, and that too-dry air can harm their respiratory systems, and potentially even kill them. I also learned that they often defecate in their soaking pools, which is part of the reason I took pictures of…poop! 😀

I’m hardly the world’s foremost expert in poop of any kind, let alone cheloniid poop, but it certainly looks right to me.

In less…”fecal” news, a lovely young Argiope aurantia has made her web in the water pickerel in the little water garden. She’s not very big yet, but given the fact that those flowers attract bees, flies, soldier beetles, and (unfortunately) Japanese beetles, she should eat well (assuming nothing eats her first). This is one of my favourite spiders, and is the same species as the big girl that once took up residence on the lawn mower handle at 544. I’m still not sure what she was trying to tell us by doing that. Anyway, this pretty little girl made her home at Parview, and she’s welcome.

I’d never grown caladium before this year, but after seeing these lovely things brightening up a shady spot, I certainly will in future!

Okay, so it’s not disgustingly hot (actually quite pleasant!), but it still hasn’t rained, so today gets another desert name.

Since we’re in the desert (apparently), I had to make some box turtle oases. C gave me a couple of plastic tubs that were of no use for anything else, and after work, I dremeled/jigsawed/utility knifed them into shallow soaking pools.

One in Sarah-Flah’s Giant Flowerbed.

A bigger one over by the pond. I still need to put mulch or something around it. Had to take the photo at nearly dark because P and I went to the Convenient Care place so he could get 5 stitches in his finger, and a tetanus shot. I hope the trash pandas enjoyed their quartered watermelon.

I checked this morning and the big pool appeared unused, but the smaller one had a bit of dirt and small pieces of mulch in it, so I think perhaps Roxy is still hanging around and decided she needed a mani/pedi soak. We’ll see, but I’d love for her to stick around; she’s very cool, and anything that eats garden snails is my new best friend!

I wonder whether it’ll actually rain before I run out of desert names to use for post titles? At least it’s cooler today; it’s supposed to be 85 (don’t know the heat index), so at least we won’t end up with a heat index of over 100. I’ll take it.

I didn’t do much except a little watering after work yesterday, and obviously, I don’t take photos of that, but I do take photos of…hibiscus blooms! I can’t remember for sure, but I think this is Midnight Marvel. It’s one of those I bought at Lowes a couple of years ago.

This is one that I grew from a baby bought on eBay. I can’t tell whether it’s Cranberry Crush or Fireball; the only way I can tell those two apart is if they’re side by side. Fireball is a little brighter red…I think. I dunno. I don’t care…they’re both beautiful. Anyway, bad light and angle because I was soooo late this morning.

This is the reason I was late. I thought Miffy was in the window to watch Roxy, but when I went outside, it was this big girl that I found strolling across the lawn. I haven’t seen Roxy since Sunday; I hope she’s still around. Anyway, this one headed over to the pond, and climbed the rocks around the edge, so I guessed she was looking for water. If she fell into the pond, she wouldn’t be able to climb back out, and box turtles don’t swim all that well, so P cut the bottom off an old storage container that used to be a kitteh hoce, and I put some pond water into it, and put her in so she’d know there was water. Now, I guess I need to find something to make at least one turtle soaking pool; if it’s not going to rain, and the pond sides are too steep, but box turtles need access to water, then I need to give them access. Poor turtle…I would’ve made short reptile-accessible sides if it wouldn’t have meant my pond liner getting cut by sharp deer hooves when they stood in the shallow edge to drink.

Other than a brief shower that netted us maybe 1/4″ of rain and did nothing useful for the soil, we’re still bone dry. Jesus Christ, why can’t we get some RAIN?! It was also four brazillion fucking degrees, so the only times I could actually do anything more energetic than shuffling around like a 90-year-old and sweating like a pig were early in the morning, or long enough after the sun went down that it had a chance to cool a little. So…few accomplishments.

I took Friday afternoon off, but it was so fucking hot that all I accomplished was putting down a little corrugated and mulch, which I did not photograph because I was too sweaty to give a rat’s arse. I’d purchased one lonely threadleaf coreopsis, and finished the flat with Salvia ‘New Dimension’ in rose and blue (three rose, four blue, I think) because they were half price and I felt sorry for them. I got up at 0530h on Saturday, and got those in the ground…which, for the record, was rock-fucking-hard and needed to be soaked before I could get a shovel into it at all. Even after that, it still wasn’t easy. Anyway, they look a bit rough after all that time in pots, and we’ll see whether they make it through the winter in this spot, but I did give it a shot! Kind of blurry shot…I don’t know why, but they don’t look that great anyway, so meh.

After I planted those, I put down a little more corrugated and mulch, then watered everything that couldn’t possibly wait another second. P and I went on another mulch run (counting the two mulch runs of 22 bags each, plus the 12 I had on the patio that I got back in April, I’ve gone through a shit-ton of mulch!), but it was too hot to do much in the afternoon. By evening, it was a little cooler, so I pulled some of the fucking crabgrass out of the milkweed bed. Eventually, I hope to get a soaker hose in there, preferably at some point in time before my poor plants completely give up.

I found this little bastard while I was watering pot-plants; it was on the flowering tobacco. I threw it down toward where Rockin’ Robin was hunting, and I hope he found it and ate it.

I have a pond lily bloom! It stays open until early afternoon, and it’s PINK! I didn’t expect the pond would have enough sun for a lily to bloom, but I guess it did after all.

I got up early again on Sunday, and got some more corrugated and mulch down, but again, the heat was too much to keep working past early morning. I’m so fucking sick of summer heat already, and it’s not even July yet, so the worst is yet to come. I’d be less bitchy about it, of course, if it would FUCKING RAIN A LITTLE. Anyway, I’m at least around the corner in Sarah-Flah’s Giant Flowerbed. Eventually, I’ll reach the end of it…damn, that’s one big flowerbed!

I didn’t have to work alone, though, because although P said that Boxy Roxy had wandered off on the east side of the garage on Friday, she came back! If she’s going to hang around, though, I think I need to get her a soaking dish. She’s here for the moisture and cooler, damp soil/mulch, but I’d like her to stay.

She’s not only cute, but useful! I forgot about the snail that had been under the corrugated when I picked it up…but Roxy found it! After she ate that one (and I accidentally caught it on video), I went out behind the gradge and found another one for her. Pretty scarce, being so dry, and I thought the one I got might be too large for her, but she managed. I hope she decides to hang around; it’s pretty cool, having a box turtle assistant.

Still no rain, though this post has nothing, really, to do with that except for the passing mention that I got a drip irrigation kit and I’m glad I got a small kit before shelling out for a bunch of emitter line that I wouldn’t end up using because the holes are spaced too far apart. I think I’m going to end up with a combination of spot watering irrigation tubing and plain old soaker hoses for the stuff placed close together. Anyway, I’ll find a use for the 50′ of emitter hose that came with the kit, and the rest I will actually use.

This is the sunflower that volunteered in a crevice of the biggest osage-orange tree. I don’t water it, I have no idea where the root goes because it’s not in the ground, there’s not much sun over there, and of course, we’ve had no rain, but this tough little bastard grew and bloomed anyway!

Caladium pots get watered every day, so they’re doing well enough. These are the first two; I’ve taken pictures of them before, but they’re just so pretty.

I think this is the one that’s supposed to be sun-tolerant, so of course it’s the one I have farthest in the shade, but it doesn’t seem to mind.

This sansevieria has just the one bloom; the other one has a whole bunch, but they look pretty much the same. I think it may be time to repot these because I’ll guess they’re blooming in an effort to produce seed because the parent plant is so crowded and can no longer send out new shoots.

Just a little catching up; it’s been too fucking hot and dry to do anything but water. I took half a day off on Tuesday, and got a few more bags of mulch down. Not much, but better than none!

The caladium in the pond bloomed. If I didn’t already know it was an aroid, I would now.

The hibiscus that S gave me bloomed vivid yellow. Pretty!

I got up at 5:30 on Saturday morning, and by 6:00, I was laying down corrugated. Good thing, since by 10:00, it was HOT, and if I’d only just started, I wouldn’t have got anything useful done. As it was, I worked until 1:30; until I ran out of mulch. Still not even close to done, but a damned sight better than it was.

Flamenco Orange is very pretty, though not much different from Salsa Red, if you ask me.

I was watering the Trail of Tears bed when I discovered I had an assistant!

I found her again, just as it was getting dark. I don’t know whether she’s digging to get cool, feel safe, or deposit eggs. Whatever the reason, she’s welcome.

The sunflower I captioned “Life will find a way” because it’s rooted in a crevice on an osage-orange tree certainly has; it’s about to bloom!

Speaking of bloom…my elderberry did bloom after all! Not many, but considering how many things have eaten it this year, I’ll take what I can get!

Another (surprising) bloom…caladium in the pond.

Pretty caladium beside the pond. No blooms yet. Hell, one pot doesn’t even have leaves yet!

Newly eclosed cicada by the pond.

P and I went to Buchheit yesterday and got 22 more bags of mulch. It was too late, too hot, and I was too busy to get it all down, but I’d got up early and laid some corrugated, and was able to get 6 more bags down yesterday. I’m a long way from finished, but making progress!

Crocosmia, just because it’s so pretty.

First bloom from a new Grey Stick!

I always thought the name of the group was stupid, but I certainly understand, “No Rain.” It’s still hotter than the hinges on the gates of Hell, and at this point, there’s a 30-40% chance of rain sometime next week…maybe…or it’ll just pass us by like the last time. I’m already sick of watering, and June is barely half gone! Anyway, the flowers are suffering in the heat, but still blooming (so far).

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ has started blooming, and the Oswego tea is in full swing.

I already took photos of these, but they’re just so bright and pretty that I needed to do it again. Missouri sundrop.

There aren’t many blooms on the trumpet creeper, and probably won’t be this year, but it’s looking more like I’d pictured, and it’s starting to put down holdfasts on the arbor. I know it’s a thug, but it’s in a safe spot, and I will always love the way it looks.

I didn’t take pictures because the milkweed bed looks like hell right now, and it was so fucking hot that I didn’t even care by the time I’d finished, but I got 15 baby tropical milkweed plants yesterday, and got them planted. Small, but they appear to have good roots, and I soaked down the milkweed bed before I even started planting them. I also noticed some seedlings that appear to be milkweed, but I haven’t a clue whether they’re swamp or tropical. Hell, might even be a weed that I just don’t recognize. Anyway, I planted the little dudes, and hopefully, they’ll grow well and fill in the bare spots in that bed. I have no idea what happened; the swamp milkweed didn’t sustain as much damage, but the common looks just awful!

I didn’t even water my pot plants this morning because I had to take pictures! P actually spotted this pretty little lady, and since he’d said, “Box turtle,” I assumed Eastern and almost didn’t go and look. I’m glad I did because this is the first Ornate box turtle I’ve ever seen in my life! She wasn’t very cooperative, and I didn’t have much time, but I did at least get photographic proof that I saw her!

The entire weekend was like a fucking blast furnace, and on top of it all, our A/C decided to crap out on Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, P found someone to fix it right away, and though they charge $115/hr plus parts for emergency service on OT, it was totally worth it!

I did virtually nothing after work on Friday because it was too hot for me to give a rat’s arse. On Saturday, I was up and dressed early, and by 0930h, I had all of the plants in the ground with the exception of the Tornado Honeysuckle cuttings.

I put the two Sombrero ‘Lemon Yellow’ coneflowers and the four ‘Goldsturm’ Rudbeckia in with the orange/red/white/yellow coneflowers I’d planted last week. Lazy, yes, but it was fucking hot, and frankly, I’m sick to death of digging and pulling up crabgrass that has roots in the Southern Hemisphere, especially now that the ground is hard and dry.

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The two little ‘Baby Sun’ tickseed went over where I foolishly put some hyacinth bulbs and surprise lily bulbs last fall, which, ATM, look like shit. I did put a few Scarlet Pumpernickel seeds in there this spring, but they didn’t amount to much, so it still looks like shit, and the tickseed will at least fill it in a bit and give it some colour.

My two ‘Kodiak Orange’ Diervilla arrived on Friday. Small, and the roots were a bit cramped in the pots, but they packaged them well, and the plants seemed to make the trip okay. I put them in the back part of Sarah-Flah’s Giant Flowerbed.

I didn’t take pictures because I desperately need to weed that goddamned fence line, but I was up early again yesterday, and got all eight of the honeysuckle cuttings planted in bare spots along the fence. I needed only six to fill in, so I doubled up on a couple with small ones.

I definitely got my $9.99 out of this flowering tobacco. I bought it as a hanging plant last spring. It hung over by the Sarah-Flah MLB feeder until it stopped blooming because it was too crowded in that pot. I put it in a larger pot, and it bloomed until frost. I left the pot out all winter because I’m lazy in fall (don’t particularly want to think about everything being brown and dead in winter), and this spring, I noticed seedlings in the pot. I figured they were weeds, or something else in the Honeysuckle Horseshoe, but nope…exactly what was in the pot last year. Blooming nicely, and if they stop, I’ll put them in a larger pot and see whether they’ll reseed themselves again!

This turned up on the southern end of the Honeysuckle Horseshoe, and although it looked familiar, I couldn’t quite place it, but I think it may be lavender. All of the (expensive, potted) lavender that I planted in the Bee Happy bed last year didn’t survive the winter, but I’m sure at some point in time, I’ve thrown lavender seeds into this bed (Hell, I’ve thrown just about every native/non-invasive non-native flower seed known to the free world in this bed), but nothing ever grew. Anyway, we’ll see whether it is indeed lavender; I don’t recall seeing it last year, so I’ll assume it’s new this year, and won’t bloom until next, assuming it doesn’t die over the winter. Assuming it’s lavender. 🙂

This is a Southern Leopard frog, sitting on a rock at the edge of the pond. Cletus is a Southern Leopard frog. This is not Cletus. This little dude is smaller than Cletus…but just as welcome.

I was too lazy to look up this huge moth that I found on the outside of the door, but he’s cool-looking.