June 11.... I've begun a war of wits with the resident chipmunk !!! So far it's chippie 2 and me 0. It all began when I decided to put the cucumbers and smaller tomato plants in pots on the deck. This was an open invitation to the chippie to bury his hord of seeds there instead of travelling all the way to his burrow!! After cleaning up twice and replanting the poor cucumber seedlings, which are NOT happy about transplanting in the first place, I have put covers of chicken wire over the tops of the pots. We'll see how he thinks to get around this. Hopefully he won't.

We've had a couple of weeks of rain and very cool weather, so the flowers are on hold until they get some sun. Everything seems very healthy though. I'm still waiting to see what sort of flowers that mystery rose cane produces. I found I had to cut most of the pink shrub rose by the drive back to new growth this year. The older branches are a little too sparse to give a good show.

This is a good year for the Iris and I will have to thin out the clumps after they have finished blooming. The Phlox are putting on a great growth and the flowers should be pretty spectacular, I hope.

Last fall I moved a clump of Sweet William to a new bed and they seem to approve of the move for they are the best they have ever been this year. I'll plant another color there as well for contrast since these red ones are doing so well. It will mean removing the Lovage plant that I have at the back of the bed, but that will not be a hardship and it can stand to be in a place a little less prominent anyway.

I'm waiting for the peonies to open and they have a few more buds than last year. I was afraid that I had buried the crown too deep, but they seem to be fine. The poppies that I thought had died have some lovely huge blooms. Well buds still, as only one has opened, but the buds are huge. It's been two years since I planted those roots and I assumed that they had died off. It's taken them this long to adapt to the garden conditions I guess. It's one more reason not to get too impatient and dig everything up.





June 27.... Another month almost over and 1/3 of the summer !!!! I must NOT think of that, but just concentrate on enjoying the heat and sun and flowers. The poppies have finished blooming and put forth a lovely show of large salmon colored petals with big dusky centers. The pods are ripening and I shall save some seeds from them.

I've had the rare pleasure of watching a female cardinal at the feeder for several days. They live across in the woodlot and we seldom see them here, especially on the deck. She didn't seem terribly nervous, but I was careful not to move about while she was pecking for seeds. I am actually wondering if this is the first female in the area, for I have seen the male a few times but never a female.

I fear the gardens are going to be slightly overgrown this summer. We have new neighbors building a home two doors down, and I have offered the lady plants when she gets around to gardening. I may just save her some seeds, since I think the things will be done before she is ready to plant.

Still no buds on the mystery rose canes. I think I shall have to trim the white shrub rose almost to the ground this year. It is getting too high to really appreciate the flowers. This will also let me see what is happening with the canes, since they are behind the shrub against the wall of the house.





July 13... Yes it is Friday the 13th and a day I look forward to for something very nice always happens to me on this day. A quick tour of the garden this morning showed me the following things. 1. The gardens that I have been working on and digging things out of seem very bare and I have to admit that I feel rather more comfortable with the overgrown look. Yes,the bare look is neater but the ground dries out a whole lot faster when there are expanses open to the wind and sun. 2. My plan of lumping all the lilies into one area instead of having them spread about looks better and better. As separate plantings, they do not give the punch to the garden that I really want. I'll have to wait a bit until they have finished blooming for the year before digging them up and moving them. I think that if I put them in the bed with the poppies it will be the best place since the poppies bloom first and the lilies, being quite tall, will hide the browning foliage of the poppies. 3. The pine needle mulch, that I put quite thickly on one of the beds to see how it would work, is doing a very fine job of keeping the weeds down and keeping the moisture in. It is also neater than leaves since it lasts longer and does not blow about onto the lawn. The only thing I have to watch out for there is that the soil does not get too acidic. Either that or plant things there that prefer an acid soil. The pine needles are a pale rust color and almost look like the dark rust mulch that is all the rage in gardens this year. The best thing is that it's free from the pine tree at the edge of the lawn that obligingly drops a good portion of its needles each fall, and all I have to do is rake then into the bed. I think I shall use them on the shade garden under the pines this fall. 4. The shade garden needs a ton of work. That is one garden that would benefit from being a little bare. It is very overgrown with ferns and violets and definitely needs improving since it can be seen from the road. Lots to think about and do.

I received a lovely little garden statue of a seated Fairy girl for my birthday this year. For the last ten years I have been saving a very large granite rock for just the right thing and now I have it. The rock is fairly flat and is just over a foot thick and about 1 1/2 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet long, and a lovely pink with grey and white streaks. I have spent the last couple of weeks chipping away at a natural depression at one end of the rock enlarging it enough to hold about two cups of water and wide enough to float a large rose blossom or one cluster of Queen-Ann's-Lace. The Fairy child sits nicely on a flat bit with her feet on the ledge just a bit lower and looks into the little pool. We jockeyed the rock into place in the corner of the bed that can be seen from the dining room window and I planted a baby Mountain Ash a little distance to the right of the rock. I put a couple of roots of medium height white Iris at the back and a clump of blue Ornamental Grass just in front of the rock to the right. I put in a couple of strands of Creeping Jenny that I'll train over the rock and around the Fairy to dangle off the front edge. The pretty yellow flowers on the Creeping Jenny will add a bit of bright color to the whole thing and it generally blooms all summer. I may add a root or two of dark purple dwarf Iris and some Forget-Me-Not to the space at the front if it looks too bare. I must say I am thrilled to be able to use the rock at last, since we have moved it from place to place over the years and I have resisted all suggestions of having it removed to a land fill. I just knew it would be perfect for something and I was right. I've taken pictures and when this film is done I WILL put in a link to the pics.

No sign yet of any buds on the mystery rose canes. I have dreams of a lovely yellow climber going up the wall with loads of blossoms all season. Until I actually see what it will produce I can let my imagination run wild.!!!