What? It’s a word.

It rained all of Saturday morning, but that didn’t stop me from getting all of my coneflowers planted, and also the Wave ‘toonyas I’d bought just before Memorial Day weekend and didn’t get planted!

When I got home from work on Friday, my blue mistflower was waiting for me. It was bare root, so it couldn’t wait for long, even though it’s technically a weed, and a tough plant. I planted most of it over in Sarah-Flah’s Giant Garden (hope I don’t regret that). I was hot and tired, so I didn’t do all of it.

Saturday, it rained steadily all morning, but stopped in the afternoon, so I was able to get the rest of my mistflower planted, and the ‘toonyas. I didn’t take photos of either one, though.

I also decided to bite the bullet and tidy up the fallen coreopsis and the Dutchman’s pipe that is trying to take over. I’d pulled down the Flava honeysuckle that was actually japonica (I checked with the seller and she said their supplier pawned off japonica as flava, but she apologised and said she’ll get me some flava), so I had an extra trellis, which I gave to the Dutchman’s pipe. I thought it was dead, but nope…just trying to strangle everything else!

Later on Saturday, the mail came with my mini cattails, which I potted in dirt from down by my baby pines.

I sunk them in the pond, atop an overturned pot. I’ll need to change those to milk crates to allow water circulation, but they’re okay for now.

On Sunday, I started early and got all of the rest planted. Possibly a little too close together, but I’ve just about had it with pulling up fucking crabgrass, so too damned bad.

C’s mini cattails are not fucking around. One week after potting, and…

Just because it’s pretty. I forget what penstemon this is, but I like it!

I had an assistant on Sunday while I was planting. He sat on my hand for a good 20 minutes!

Baby spined soldier bug found himself a snack. Not very clear, but it was over by the pond, and the sun was going down.

Onje was hunting birds and fell asleep. He thinks they can’t see his bright orange and white ass in 4″ of green clover. 🙂

Bird pool, just because the splashing water is pretty in the sun.

We had to wait until Sunday to mow the yard, but it’s still nice even if I didn’t have time to just sit and admire our hard work.

EDIT: When I got home from work, the last thing I wanted to see was anything that needed to go in the ground, but two bunches of the anise hyssop were kind of dry, and all three looked a bit battered, so I didn’t make them wait. Hopefully, these will do better than all the seeds I’ve planted because that’s netted me only a few plants, and I just love this stuff!

I was watching some PBS stuff on The Scene, and the name of the show is, “It’s Okay to be Smart!” Okay? Okay? Really? It’s “okay” to be smart? Why, thank you! All these years, I’ve been wishing I could be utterly uninterested in anything that didn’t concern a celebrity, or wasn’t something I needed to buy so my life would be better!

OF FUCKING COURSE IT’S OKAY TO BE SMART. IT’S ACTUALLY DESIRABLE–WHO WANTS TO BE A SLACK-JAWED FUCKNUTS?! 

I bought a flat containing seven Sombrero ‘Flamenco Orange’ coneflowers, and one lonely ‘PowWow White’ on Tuesday, but I was too tired on Tuesday to plant them (still haven’t planted the Wave ‘toonyas I got before Memorial Day weekend!). I managed to get three of them in the ground yesterday, which was no mean feat because even though it was only 84F, the humidity made the air feel like a hot, wet blanket, and actually moving at anything faster than a 90-year-old’s shuffle meant sweating. They weren’t going to plant themselves, though, so I managed to get these in the ground. Probably won’t do more tonight because it’s laundry night, but I have high hopes for the weekend (HA!)

That was my big accomplishment after work. Otherwise, I wandered around, looking at stuff. I did put some Black Kow around the newly arbor-ed (it’s a word!) trumpet creeper, but I’m not quite to the point of taking pictures of literal cow shit, so I didn’t. Some of the Lonicera flava cuttings I took…whenever that was…finally did root, so I took a few more and didn’t bother with rooting hormone. My thinking is that it took forever to do the other ones because they were inside, and these will be outside. We’ll see! Rooted on right, newly stuck in soil on left.

The little cattail that C gave me is making himself a friend! I got some “mini cattail” on eBay, but have not yet received it. If it’s the same kind as this, I might pot it with this little guy. Might not…I don’t know because this is supposed to be a very fast grower, and it might get too crowded by the end of the summer.

I have no idea how ‘Sweet Tea’ even survived last winter with so much of its crown exposed, but it did, and it’s just started blooming nicely. The creeping zinnia seeds I put around its base have done jack shit, though. At least they were seeds, and not expensive.

I don’t hold out hope that it’s permanent, but I’m very glad last year’s salvia ‘Radio Red’ made it through last winter; they’re so pretty.

Much of my outdoor time yesterday was spent hanging out with Big Bertha by the pond. She looks rather different once she’s been sitting in a dry spot for a while. Almost like a different frog, but it’s definitely Bertha!

Terrible photo, but I had only my phone and I didn’t want to scare him. Nonetheless, it amused me. I put the oriole feeder up with nectar in hopes of attracting an oriole. I get grandkid woodpeckers and Mean Little Birds. I put this orange feeder up with oranges in hopes of attracting an oriole. I get a Northern Pearly-Eye.

It rained all day on Friday, so I did some house cleaning and did the laundry. I also saw Cletus; since I don’t hear him singing anymore, and he’s mostly nocturnal, it’s hard to tell whether he’s there or not. Schrodinger’s frog.

Apparently, sansavieria blooms when it’s abused. Both of mine are going to bloom. Hmmm…

Rain Saturday morning, too, but it stopped, so I got a little done. I weeded the patio, and also discovered (finally!) some activity from the caladium. Barely enough to be considered activity, but at least I can tell the bulbs aren’t rotted!

Filled in bare spots with Mesa Yellow gaillardia. Hope they survive…I tend not to do well with potted gaillardia.

Messed around with the pond a bit. I tethered my island, and turned loose the water hyacinth.

Appropos of nothing, Miffy sleebin’ cute.

On Sunday, P and I finally got the lattice on the arbor for the trumpet creeper. I don’t recommend anyone looking too closely, but it came out pretty well. (Grow fast, plants! ;)) It’s not actually crooked, though; that’s the camera angle. We aren’t that bad at post installation!

On Monday, I finally buckled down and installed the edging for Sarah-Flah’s Giant Flowerbed. It was hot, I was working in the sun, and although I got all of the edging installed, and removed edging from around the small flowerbed this one has engulfed, I did not get the weed-whacking finished inside it because so much sweat was running into my eyes that I couldn’t see. The worst part is over, though; I reeeeeally don’t like installing that edging.

Tiny, scrawny Brown Sticks have itsy-bitsy leaves!

I have no idea what is going on here, but it involved three thread-waisted wasps.

It both amuses and horrifies me that so very many people do not know how to correctly spell the word, “bowl”. It’s four fucking letters, for christ’s sake; if you made it through second grade, you should be able to manage it!

I was looking for native American lotus plants to see whether they’d tolerate any shade (not really). I came across lots of listing for tropical lotus, one of which was “bowel lotus”. I don’t think I want that in my pond…the frogs and Tiny T already make enough poop.

They’re pretty scrawny, and appear to still be dormant, so I’m withholding feedback for the time being, but they were very well packaged, and I’ll assume a registered nursery sent me actual ninebark and not weedy maple like that arsehole in MA did. We’ll see…they certainly don’t look like much now!

I learned a new skill! I was trying to find an adhesive that would stick to polyethylene foam, and discovered it was very easy to heat-weld. I borrowed a heat gun from work, and bought four pieces of pipe insulation. I’ve seen people make floats by zip-tying the insulation to the pots, but I think that looks like crap. I also wanted a corral that looked nicer than garden hose, so I got busy with the heat gun. I like this better than the garden hose (which wouldn’t have been bad had it been black, but…)

I also made a life preserver for the second pot of taro. I had to use a little piece off the top of some landscape border to help hold the ends together because it’s smaller and therefore a tighter circle, but it welded pretty well and works just fine, even on that heavy pot.

C’s lilies do not fuck around. I potted these last Friday after work, and only the torn leaf was anywhere near the surface, but even it hadn’t broken the surface.

Speaking of not fucking around…cardinal climber seeds are already out of the ground!

It doesn’t look like much, but the pothos are just cuttings, the taro just got repotted, and the rest I just got yesterday. They’ll either grow or die; up to them, but they’re on the island. Now I just have to decide where to tether it. Maybe the middle…dunno.

Finally got warm enough to inspire the geranium. The 80s are back (though I still hate the smell of geranium).

I wasn’t up for any huge projects this weekend, so I decided to just “putter”. I still got a few things done, though, and spent a lot of time either messing around with the pond (I found and fixed the low spot this morning), or just watching…stuff in the pond.

Friday after work, I still needed topsoil because Buchheit still had none, so I braved the new Walschwitz. I got four bags of topsoil, but more importantly, I got a huge philodendron Prince of Orange…for ten bucks. I was looking at them, trying to find a price, and the cashier said, “Those are ten dollars, ma’am.” I thought, “No way!” but I love-love-love Prince of Orange even if I don’t know where the hell I’m going to make it fit. I got it to the counter, and lo and behold, it rang up for ten bucks…as a sansevieria. Far be it from me to correct the Walton family, so I have a $40 Prince of Orange for ten bucks.

I didn’t take pictures because the lilies are under water in the pond, and the iris and grass are still hanging out in the water garden until I figure out where they’ll live, but C gave me some pond plants. Made me seriously consider a bigger water garden in a sunny spot, but I have other projects to finish first. Aaaaanyway…

The only planting I did on Saturday was to move what’s left of my last attempt at “fancy” agastache. I stuck it over in Sara-Flah’s flowerbed, next to the Monarda fistulosa. Probably won’t live, but I gave it a shot.

In the recently vacated spot where the orange agastache had been, I planted the volunteer that came with the weigela outside the bedroom window. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is Virginia Sweetspire. I’d thought maybe summersweet, but the flowers droop, and the leaves look more like sweetspire, so that’s what I’m going with.

I have two bales of straw sitting on the goddamned patio, there are cat beds everywhere, and a bath mat, also on the patio, plus a chair with a plastic bag of straw that was supposed to be mulch, but ended up as a cat bed. Where does Onje sleep? In my goddamned flowers, crushing them.

My first Missouri sundrop bloom. Photo does not do the gorgeous electric lemon yellow colour justice, and the blooms are much larger than common evening primrose.

We mowed the lawn last night, and I startled this huge magnificent spider out of hiding. I made sure he was safely out of the way before I continued mowing. I don’t know who he is…Hogna, maybe?

Pond stuff! I thought Cletus had flown the coop, driven out by the bullfrog ladies, but I saw him yesterday, and again today. He was being shy yesterday, but I took a photo anyway.

Big Bertha Bullfrog is still there (getting more used to me, too), and Michigan Jane Frog spent the majority of today, perched on the water hyacinth.

I don’t know who this little lady is; she’s new and hasn’t given up her name yet, so now I have three bullfrog girls.

Polly-wolly doodles! These little dudes hang out in the sun on the sides of the pond liner. I have a lot of tadpoles; all sizes from itsy-bitsy to nearly ready to grow legs.

I was sitting next to the pond, watching the polly-wolly doodles on the other side, when I discovered that we have a new pond resident…a BEBE TURTLE! I think he’s most likely a painted, but haven’t got a good enough look at him to be sure. I have no idea how a bebe turtle got in my pond, but he obviously figured it out because I saw him yesterday, and again today. Bad photo, but best I could do under the circumstances.

Worse video. OMG, he’s so cute; his shell is 2.5-3″ across. I named him Tiny T.

Since the pond is playing host to a turtle, I decided it should have a basking log. This is the piece that I was going to use in the 55g, but it was too big for the look I wanted. It’s tethered in place with the fishing line I finally found.

I also finally got my pond island cut out, and the holes cut for the pots, and the rocks clear-coated and attached. It looks weird now, but it’ll be nice once it’s got plants in it. Oh, and I repotted the taro that I’d intended to put in the pond; it didn’t seem to like the mixed soil, so I just put it in some Miracle Gro organic choice. The pots are soaking in those blue buckets of water right now, preparing to go in the pond. For now, though, here’s the island.

Oh! I almost forgot Nessie! I watched two of these creatures, swimming around the pond. At first, I thought they were hellgrammites, but they’re the larvae of some kind of diving beetle. A bigger one, I’d guess; the larvae are about 1″ long.

I just watched one take a bath barely 6′ from where I’m sitting beside the pond. A boy, tiny and cute!

Eleven days ago, it was a male Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler bathing 15′ away. I may curse the pond sometimes, but I’m very glad I made it. Big Bertha, Michigan Jane Frog, and Cletus in the deep part, birds bathing in the pool above. Hopefully dragonflies and damselflies later in the year!