Seven Sons Tree

It is fall and many things are blooming away... away being the operative word. To add a little Spring excitement, I am going to try to cultivate a little 7 sons tree/ shrub available from Parkseed.com. It sounds like this will grow 15'x10'... Blooms in August & then red calyxes form.. In some ways, it sounds much like my Henry Spice Itea... colorful right now in shades of orange, brown, & reds, but has fragrant white flowers in the spring. Everything likes full sun.. and I fear by the time I finish planting for full sun... I'll end up with a very shady yard :)

An early evening storm to remember

This storm swept in over a mere 10 minutes and began waves of heavy rain & hail & wind. How eerie to have the sky totally blackened by this huge cloud. When it was over, the western sky was bright yellow and a double rainbow emerged, around 9 pm. 10 miles away in Crystal Lake, the sky turned blood red and lightning streaked horizontally across the sky at this same time.

The garden alive!

Here it is, mid-July... and the flowers are blooming robustly! Time to take pictures to help dictate what gets moved and what stays where next spring. My Rozanne geranium plants turned out to be larger than I imagined... rising about 18" and spreading about 28" across with large flower heads and large well defined leaves. Now that the roses have slowed in their bloom, it is nice to see this little "pond" of purple flowers, but I have lost that "tailored" look I was trying to cultivate.

The dwarf buddelia bushes much prefer where I have moved them and they are now blooming prolifically. That back flower bed just doesnt seem to sustain much of anything, although the Russian Sage seems to have taken to being transplanted there. Maybe just put the lilies all over back there & be done with it?

bunny deterents?

I read in Birds & Blooms some people were successful with keeping bunnies away from their yummy flowers by using Geese decoys! Apparently, geese & bunnies do not eat eye to eye. So off we trundled to Cabela's to see if we could find just the right menacing looking decoys, which are not inexpensive, btw. The clerk kept telling hubby on the sly, "get a gun; it's cheaper" Anyway, home we came with decoys on sale.. 12 for $70... designed to look like sitting geese in a field to attract geese to land but hollow shells with a variety of heads. I set out 6 to begin with, pounding the stakes thru into the ground... and then it was time to wait... for Bunny. And you can see for yourself how totally menacing the goose is and how totally terrified the Bunny is!

Live & Learn

Hummingbird elixer

Everyone probably knows the recipe for hummingbird elixer... 1 cup hot water & 1/4 cup sugar... and to clean & change the feeder every 3 days or less

We have just one little pair of hummers who visit our window view and make our cats chitter with excitement. Perhaps the spring and its cold, wind, and rain have kept the hummers in a warmer part for a longer time. From my notes last year, it was just about now, mid-June, when we began to have a lot of hummer activity, plus we had indigo buntings, red breasted grosbeaks, and an occasional oriole.

blues

Something about the shade of blue and purple in a garden creates a calming effect. These lovely spring fashion shows are now making their exit and the brighter more lively hues of summer are presenting themselves.

These irises did not flower last year, their first year up. There were 4 blooms on each of 3 stalks. 7 plants had leaves but we'll wait til next year to see if they will flower. The salvia above is actually bright purple next to violet cranesbill.

MoonTiger - a nearly full moon and a sleepless night

Moon Tiger

The moon tiger.
In the room, here.
It came in, it is
prowling sleekly
under and over
the twin beds.
See its small head,
silver smooth,
hear the pad of its
large feet. Look,
its white stripes
in the light that slid
throught the jalousies.
It is sniffing our
clothes, its cold nose
nudges our bodies.
The beds are narrow,
but I’m coming in with you.

- Denise Levertov