Canna Bud July 14, 2014

This little canna bud was so pretty this morning.  I bought these roots at WalMart.  Don't know the name of them.

Double Red Althea July 14, 2019

I thought my althea looked pretty this weekend.

Weekend at the Farm July 13 - 14, 2019

This was out last weekend before our trip to Alaska.  It was particularly stressful because we have Airbnb guests arriving the second weekend we are gone.  Weeds!  And, wouldn't you know it, the pool sweep broke, and one of the automatic sprinkler zones stopped working.  But we did the best we could.  The pool sweep is repaired, we fixed the faulty wiring that caused the sprinkler zone to stop working, and I cleaned up as best I could.

• Saturday. In the morning I spent about 30 minutes pulling up the ugly tall weed in the Meadow. 
• I spent some time in the Star Garden weeding, but most of my time was spent in the Rose Garden weeding.  I watered in the Rose Garden and in some dry spots in the Star Garden. 
• Sunday.  I spent another 30 minutes or so pulling up the tall weed in the Meadow.  
• I sprayed herbicide on the ugly, invasive yellow flower in the Meadow that has popped up absolutely everywhere. I've written about it before.  It is very tall (four feet) with ugly, hairy leaves.  The flowers are not very pretty, but they seed prolifically.  And they don't lay down after they are killed by the freeze.  Real nuisances.   
• Next I went to the Orchard to spray herbicide.  I didn't intend on staying, but it was such a weedy mess that I spent about three hours in there weeding.  
• Did some more watering in the Rose Garden.
• Cleaned up and put away all my stuff (I usually leave my gloves and other stuff out on the porch, but I moved it all to the Greenhous since we are having guests).
• It doesn't look like much, but I worked my tail off!
• Prepped the drawers and closets for guests, and we drove home.

Four Days at the Farm July 4 - 7, 2019

This is a cerulean passion flower.  There are so many fantasticical-looking passion flowers, but this one is supposed to be more cold-resistant than most.  So I bought it and planted it on the front arbor.

Mom, Dad, Nan and Lisa for July Fourth.  Lisa drove back to work on Friday.  Nan, Mom and Dad spent the night .  We swam both days and ate lots of food!

• Wednesday morning before everyone arrived I weeded.  With the rain and Molly's birth (my inability to get to Burton and weed), there has been an explosion of weeds.  It is a pretty daunting task.  And we leave for Alaska in a less than two weeks.  I filled a wheelbarrow with a huge pile of weeds from the Star Garden.  
• I weeded in the Vegetable Garden.  The sunflower, amaranth and okra seeds that I sowed are about a foot tall now.  I pulled up all the larkspur that had gone to seed.   And I pulled up all the Mexican Torch sunflower that I saw growing.  I am done with those monsters. They are wonderful for the butterflies, but too difficult to keep upright.
• Nancy spent about 30 minutes helping me pull up the tall weed in the Meadow.  It was great to have help!
• I spent an hour or a bit more weeding in the Star Garden after everyone left on Friday.  I filled up two heaping wheelbarrows full of weeds and spent vegetation.
• Saturday morning.  Couldn't sleep.  Finally got out of bed at 5:00 and drank coffee.  Out the door and weeding by 6:30.
• I spent most of the day in the Star Garden weeding and tying back plants.  I filled up the wheelbarrow many times as well as well as the cadet with weeds. By this time in the year I'm not really pulling up spent wildflowers anymore, just weeds.  But I am still culling ageratum, so there was a lot of that in the wheelbarrows too.  I cut away plants leaning into the paths and generally cleared away those areas.  
• Next, I went to the Medicine Garden.  I used the hedge trimmers to cut back my St. Johns Wort.  I cut back many stalks of Hojo Santo.  I used the large leaves as "mulch" around some of my freshly weeded areas.  I did some raking and spraying herbicide.  I ran into a copperhead in the ginger bed in there.  I called to Bert to come and kill it, but I mistakenly called it a coral snake.  He won't kill one of those pretty little things.  He didn't hear me correct myself and call it a copperhead, so he never came to my rescue.  It remains alive to scare me another day.
• I sprayed herbicide in the Vegetable Garden.
• I spent 20 minutes in the Meadow pulling up the tall weed that is so unattractive.
• The last thing I did was to cut back my Black and Blue Sage in the Bedroom Bed.  It is a large area, and it took a while to do.  There were still some brown eyed Susans in there, so I yanked them out.  Also pulled up any Four O'Clocks I saw in there.  I have them mostly eradicated in that area.  Hot work at 2:00 in the afternoon. 
• Showered and napped for about an hour.
• I tried to do a bit more, but threw in the towel pretty quickly.
• Sunday.  Up early again.  Ray brought their new dog, Josie, over to meet us.  We all chatted for about an hour.
• I started working in the Rose Garden.  I worked in there most of the day.  I cleared out 6 or so beds thoroughly, and some beds I only got out the big crabgrass that spreads out and crowds out.  By 2:00 I was pretty whipped, so I cleared out the weeds around my young roses so they wouldn't choke.  To be continued next weekend.  
• I cleared out the paths in the Rose Garden so that nothing brushes against you when you pass through.  I staked a few clumps of Standing Cypress.  I sprayed herbicide.  Bert mowed the Daffodil Bed for me.  I sowed zinnia seeds in areas that I cleared out.  We will have lots of pretty blooms in early August.  I watered here and there, and I moved the sprinklers.
• I sprayed herbicide in the Orchard and the Star Garden and around the pool.
• Lastly, I sowed Aurelia's Verde Amaranth, sunflower seeds, Nema-gone Marigolds and zinnias in the Vegetable Garden.  Pulled a few weeds too.  I like having things growing in the Vegetable Garden even when it is August, and all those things like the heat.
• I continued watering in the Rose Garden until dark.
• Drove in to work on Monday morning.