blossom…

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the water lilies are doing very well and I think the fish are enjoying the shade they provide…

I purchased two from RPGC and have been checking daily in the hope that there might be a bud coming…

on July 10 I spotted something that might prove to be one…

I’ve been checking everyday and was thrilled to discover I was right…

it takes a long time for one to emerge from the base of the pot and climb up through a couple of feet of water…

waited patiently… and on Sunday it popped to the surface…

yesterday, it opened a little bit and today it opened completely;-)…

happily…

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enjoying time in the garden…

the dahlias are doing well and happily they are opening at different times so there should be some blooming throughout the weeks, rather than all at once and then nothing…

when I planted them I put the plastic bag they came in into the pot and now I can’t read the name, lol…

so far a purple one has bloomed next to the house…

and then a delicate white with purple tones bloomed… 3 flowers last week and 3 are blooming right now…

I cut them and put them in a vase to enjoy in the house…

currently that plant has 4 more buds on it… looks like another white one is starting to open… looking forward to how beautiful it will look when it is completely open…

that leaves two still to develop buds… can’t wait to see what colour they turn out to be… when I ordered them I asked for purple and white varieties…

with my retirement, I am enjoying the ability to spend each day in the garden all summer long…

sunburned…

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yesterday the hibiscus finally bloomed for the first time in many months…

it lives in the house over the winter and hadn’t flowered since Christmas…

it was really unhappy when I moved it outside for the summer… the first few days after the move were very hot and it got sunburned… since then many of the leaves have turned yellow and fallen off…

last week I spotted the beginning of the first buds… and a few days ago the first one started to open…

yesterday it was fully open and even after the rain it looked gorgeous…

and there were three blooms ready to open…

and this is what I saw this morning…

nature really is amazing… and beautiful…

seriously…

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the morning glories are opening everywhere… and everyday…

as I was looking back in my posts I noticed that the first morning glory of 2018 was on August 8… planting them from seeds early has made a huge difference as the first one this year was June 27;-)…

they look amazing… as I am home all the time I get to enjoy they more than when I worked as they would be closed by the time I got home at the end of the day…

had to giggle when one went right between two of the boards on the bench around the deck… it seriously wanted to get to the other side, lol.. so cute…

umbrella…

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yay, the new umbrella is finally up…

last night my grandson arrived with the four base pieces so we could put it together…

one of the crosspieces on the bottom didn’t fit correctly so he had to take that piece back to the store and have it replaced… happily they had one available…

back home he finished putting it all together and I think it is going to be perfect…

now I will be able to have visitors to the garden at any time of the day… really looking forward to more garden visits…

after supper I tried opening and closing it a few times before he left, lol… let us hope I can remember exactly what to do;-)…

and I did remember this morning;-)… yay…

moving…

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my caterpillars are on the move…

there is only one small sized one left on the milkweed… and I have found two new eggs so that is exciting…

my grandson spotted a caterpillar crawling in the lily of the valley, so I am going to lay down on the deck and see if I can find some in their chrysalis stage…

spent quite some time this morning laying on a lounge cushion and lifting leaves in the lily of the valley searching…

eventually I found one chrysalis… I also marked the leaf so I can spot it again…

will need to keep looking…

deck…

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last night I went camping on the deck…

instead of putting out the big air mattress, I brought up the lounge chair, put two cushions on it, brought out a quilt, a throw and a pillow and settled down for the night…

the space station was going to be visible at 3:22 a.m. so it seemed like a good idea;-)…

I did wake up around 3, but the sky was covered in clouds so I went back to sleep and when I woke up this morning it was clear again…

as I lay there I could feel the squirrels running over the deck beside me, lol…

such fun;-)…

pinching…

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so, I signed up for a 3-part video course on flowers in the garden… it is from @floretflower on Instagram… they are located in Washington State and have a flower farm and seed business…

yesterday I finally got around to watching the first of the two that I have received so far…

it was all about pinching the plants… this morning I decided to give it a try and it was difficult, because it does feel counter-productive to trim back a plant that is growing nicely… but I did it, and I also removed the flowers on the dahlias and put them into a vase…

it will be interesting to see if it really does double the number of blooms produced…

I will watch and see…

stronger…

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another busy day…

up early, put out all the cushions and had my breakfast in the garden… lots of visits from the house finch couple and the chickadees…

went into the pond to clean the pump and filled half a pail with string algae… waterfall is looking better now and the flow is much stronger…

then a good friend came over for a garden visit and we had a lovely time… the garden is looking nice and there are still five or six caterpillars to search out on the milkweed…

she had just left when the lawn mowing service (the middle grandson) arrived… we had a visit before he started and just as he was done the chauffeur (oldest grandson) arrived with a new umbrella which will provide shade in the afternoon sun… we couldn’t put it up as we are waiting for the base to arrive…

then, before I knew it, they were all gone and I was back in the peace and quiet;-)…

lots of reading and nature watching for the rest of the day…