It seems to me that I read something recently that suggested that some plants winter over better if you wait to cut them back in the spring. I’ve made it a practice to put the gardens to bed for the winter by cutting everything back and raking up any rose debris. I have a number of plants that get wintered over in the garage in large pots. The one rose that’s left in my garden will be trimmed back, mounded with dirt to protect the graft, encircled with a cage and covered with shredded leaves.
I need to surf to see what I can find about waiting to cut the plants back. It seems to me that chrysanthemums were included in that list, and maybe iris, but I can’t remember the others. I want to check on daylilies, clematis, ornamental grasses and several herbs.

I wanted you to see the ornamental grass that grows at the corner of the house. It’s been there for years, and is the most modest of plants until about the third week of August, and then it just explodes, covering the sidewalk and anything near it.
We had a little visitor who was hiding in it. It never occurred to me that it might provide a highway for small animals who need cover as they travel through the area. I’ll have to watch to see if Ed sits and watches the grass.

I have to do some work on my raised veggie beds, so I’m not growing full sized tomatoes this year, but I have a cherrry tomato plant, and two miniature pear tomato plants growing in the herb beds. They’ve been producing regularly, and this is one day’s harvest.
In the middle of winter, I long for the scent of summer tomatoes. I love the warm, ripe texture of a summer tomato. There is no taste quite like it. The next best thing is the taste of a cherry tomato….that burst of flavor that pops in your mouth as you bite into them.
These cherry tomatoes are Sweet 100, but next year I’m going to look for a variety that has more acid, and is marginally larger. Yum! I can hardly wait!

I’ve been pondering for some time the amount of time it takes to maintain all the gardens at Chez Buffy. In particular, the herb garden has been on my mind. I’ve worried that I should consider closing it down because it’s a good sized drain on my summer hours.
My youngest sister came to visit for two days and joined me in the gardens on Friday morning. I had several chores that needed my attention and the purpose of her visit, in part, was to give me a hand. It was also a chance for us to chat and catch up before the school year claims all her time.

Continue reading →

I posted that we finally got rain last week. This week, on Tuesday afternoon and into the evening we had wonderful, gentle rain that soaked in. It wasn’t all that we needed, but it was a step in the right direction.
Wednesday dawned cool and clear. It was beautiful in the morning, and I managed to get in an hour’s work before a nurse came to visit Elegante Mother. I was trying to tidy things up before she arrived. She was early! I got caught in my gardening gear, looking ratty, and had to make the best of it.

Continue reading →

This morning I was out at 5:15 in the morning, setting up the hose to water the gardens at the front door. Before I went back into the house, I decided to fill the bird feeder and birdbath.

Continue reading →

Wednesday, the boys came to us later than usual. I had an audit, and went to pick them up about noon. After lunch, I helped them get started on the project for the day. I had to run three errands before I could join them.
As I gave them the last of the instructions, I realized that a thunderstorm was flying toward us from the north. We covered the lawn mower and they headed inside. I thought I could out run the storm and get my errands done. HA!
We had three or four isolated thunderstorms that afternoon. In each, we had 10-20 minutes of hard rain before it cleared off. You could hear the ground go Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!
I don’t know how many days it had been since we had measurable rain, but those brief showers weren’t enough. We’re still in drought, and will be for a while. Sunday, the weathermen are predicting that we will hit 100 degrees or more. We can only hope that the cooler weather next week will bring us some relief.

MY WEEDS ARE WILTING!
Does that give you an idea how bad things are here?
We’re running sprinklers on the gardens at the front door and hand watering the herb garden and containers, but everything else is being left to the whim of the weather. I have some tall weeds at the edge of the grove to the north of the house, and yesterday I realized that the weeds are wilting. I have never seen weeds wilt before.
On the news tonight, they announced that we are in the worst drought since 1988. In the period from March 16 to July 16, the Chicago area has received 9.09 inches of precipitation less than the norm. I suspect that our little area is further in the hole than that. We are just north of a freeway, and there is something about those ribbons of cement that detours the rain clouds.
I’m going to look up the instructions for rain dances, and encourage all my friends to pray for RAIN! Please! I need a week of gloomy, gray, drippy days. I promise I won’t complain.

I’m yet living. All the usual suspects here are doing well, despite the horrible heat and humidity.
We have reached the point this summer where I’ll have my ten and fifteen year old nephews each Wednesday. I can’t begin to tell you how much help they are.

Continue reading →

PLEASE, God….Please! Couldn’t we just have an inch or two of rain this week….and next??
It is SO dry here that we need to worry about the jerks who will shoot off fireworks during the week of the Fourth of July. Everything will go up like tinder.

Continue reading →