had a great day: phone calls with two special friends, a garden visit with another great friend, and three hours with Hilda the Gardener where I did a lot of deadheading…
I found some datura seeds that had been sitting around in the house and planted them in a couple of pots in the front flower bed a while ago…
they have produced some beautiful mauve flowers… I should have thinned them out but just couldn’t do it, lol… so the flowers are small… they open in the morning and only last for the day…
a friend brought me some of the ones she had planted and thinned out… I planted a single one in four different pots… they are now blooming… these ones bloom in the evening and are a bright white…
really enjoying the view out the window each day;-)…
my middle grandson was dropped off to mow the grass and do a few other pieces of work for me…
he mowed, whipper snipped, pulled weeds, moved furniture and the new umbrella, filled bird/squirrel feeders, and cleaned up patio stones…
it was a hot day for digging around the stones, but it looks so much better… still have more to do the next time he is here… he is a lovely young man and I enjoy the time we have together;-)…
the front yard and garden look tidy and fresh… I sat out for a while after he left but then came in as rain appeared to be on the way and arrived with thunder and lightning…
a most amazing woman brought Captain’s Table fish and chips over (one of my favourites) for supper and we ate inside… the downpour had finally stopped, but it was cool outside… eventually we were able to take a tour of the garden and visit on the deck…
I am so blessed with all the special people who are, and have been, in my life…
woke up to quiet this morning… the power was off so nothing in the house or neighbourhood was running… was thinking I wasn’t going to get any tea, but just fifteen minutes later it came back on…
took my cup of tea outside and spent some time in the garden…
wandered around admiring all the flowers…
also happy to get a few shots of the various critters who stopped by…
I need to get back into the pond to deal with the algae but it was a little cool today, so I will do that in the next few days…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 lawnmowingservice (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…