Gosh, maybe morning coffee could be my alternate post time. Last night after mowing I was exhausted – I used the trimmer, too, which covers my legs in grass! And because it was almost 90 degrees, I’m sweating and all that grass is sticking to me. Ugh.
I also did this big project – I planted 20 new pots of pencil tree. I cut the branches two days ago, the ends scarred over and then it’s just a matter of sticking them in dirt. I’ll bet they all grow.
Last night I knew the plants all needed a drink but I took a chance and didn’t spend the hour watering them. This morning it’s raining!!! Yahoo!
I watched the game last night dirty and sweaty because I like to shower and jump in bed. The Fever won but it wasn’t pretty and I haven’t listened to any news this morning but I think Caitlyn pulled that groin muscle again. And the All Star game is this Saturday!!
I’m sitting in the porch with my coffee and it’s raining – not windy so it comes in but just steady and straight down. Someone asked about the geraniums on the railing. I was so disappointed last spring when it was so cold and rainy that everybody’s geraniums were just sickly looking and expensive! I bought a few but they’ve never done very well even with fertilizing. I was at Bomgaars this week and their HUGE hanging baskets were marked down to $8! I bought three but should have bought a couple more because my railing is not balanced.
I just love my rock garden this year with the addition of those new houseplants I bought last spring at Walmart – their lime green color adds a lot.
And now I’ve got a real treat for you. Kay Schleusner – pronounced Slice-ner, lives just a couple miles from me and sent me a video of her gardens on her farm. (You might remember her because she worked for us.). They are breathtaking! I told her she has a garden designer’s mind and vision. The video wouldn’t post but I asked her to take some photos for you to enjoy.
Wasn’t that fun? A garden tour this morning. And here’s one reader photo that’s pretty fun, too.
……….
90% of bald people still own a comb. They can’t part with it.
Kay, your garden is amazing! Thank you so much for the tour. My mother-in-law had hostas in her yard and I have always loved them. Yours are so beautiful. So nice to see your granddaughter quilting.
Mary, your garden is beautiful too!! I love seeing the jokes. I share jokes with my grandkids.
Kay, your gardens are gorgeous! I love it ALL! Those cute chairs, beautiful and colorful flowers, and bed frames, everything is so fun!
Thanks for sharing!
Kay, your gardens are fantastic. Love the mixture of textures and color choices. Thank you for sharing. Kay, do you have one favorite flower/plant? We had a cold front come through yesterday evening. It became quite chilly with a strong cold wind. It was so welcomed after the high heat and humidity. It rained over night as well. We get some relief from the heat for a few days before it starts up again. Janice, Traverse City area
Janice thank you, my favorites would be hostas and hydrangeas..
Kay your gardens are spectacular. Thank you for sharing with us.
Beautiful gardens!!@
Yes, grew up on an Iowa farm, both grandparents had Iowa farms. I inherited and/or absorbed ZERO genes for anything garden/harvest related. Just NOT interested. The ONLY activity I truly enjoyed was walking the bean fields. As an adult, I never had an urge to plant/grow/cultivate anything . . . except once. Living in Las Vegas, we had a very short sidewalk from the front door that ran to the main sidewalk. There was a railing and dirt next to i. I felt compelled to plant something. Geraniums seemed like a safe bet. I found Martha Washington’s at a nearby nursery. OMG!! Those babies grew and blossomed like nothing I’d ever seen before! Always kept in mind, if I ever saw them again, I would plant some. Sadly, never have, so they remain a beautiful memory. No envy of anyone else’s successful gardens, just a deep appreciation for the hard work and gratitude for the lovely photos!!!
Kay your garden is like a park! So beautiful! And amazing. You have a real garden design talent!
It is beautifully cool here! Totally loving the 70 degrees! I realize it will warm up again, but the break is wonderful. Our son in Michigan said it was 94 and terribly humid! Hope they got some rain!
Have park of the Michigan kids here in Iowa. They came for a couple reason….a bridal shower tonight is one. Enjoying the visit again! We have had a lot of visits since the first of June.
Take care
Loved the beautiful garden tour! Thank you for sharing. I will be going back over it again and again.
Pencil trees, Mary? I will need to google that one.
Thank you all for your kind words, I love being in the flower beds and being able to share pictures. It’s like buying fabric need more.
I gave my granddaughter 3″ squares to sew it only needs to be big enough for a Barbie she said,so that was a quick quilt.
How many hours went into that beautiful yard? And the cat makes it perfect.
The other morning I was checking on the few geraniums. When I turned around, here was the neighbor cat, French Fry, snuggled down in the tall grass watching the bird bath. I didn’t bother him as he is declawed and isn’t fast enough to catch anything.
Right now it is 8 pm and the temp is 56 degrees. It has been rainy, foggy, misty for yesterday and today and my rain gauge says 3/4″ rain and most people aren’t complaining!! We need the moisture. Don’t worry, it will be back to the 90’s by Saturday.
Mary, when you said you had so much rain and the succulents were swimming, do you plant them in pots without drainage? I always have HOLES in the bottom of the pots, or I overwater everything. My Christmas cactus lives in the north picture window of my living room. During most of the year all I do is water and put a bit of fertilizer on it. Come November I don’t turn the lights on so the only light it gets is daylight. Then you can see the buds and over December to March it will have over 300 flowers. No special treatment. If I have to turn the lights on, I cover the cactus with pieces of newspaper.
Take care. Betty in Rapid City
Betty – I never use a pot without drainage – never. I’d kill the plant for sure. Root rot is common in pots without drainage. But still the succulents got plenty of moisture – they are so beautiful right now. I take pictures every year about this time but they never do it justice.
Kay’s garden pictures are so pretty! You both have green thumbs! For some reason geraniums have not looked all that healthy. After a couple of months mine have finally produced nice deep green leaves & lots of blooms! I would send pictures, but we’re at my friend’s lake house. We’ve had 3 heavy rains with thunder today. We will be here for 2 wks & she’ll drop her dog off for me to watch next Thursday. I did bring my travel sewing machine & a couple of projects to work on. Looking forward to getting some sewing time in!
Loved all of the garden photos. Awesome! Wish I had a green thumb. Decided to not buy any new plants this year since all but 2 of them I planted last have died.
The game last night was good but sure hate that Katilyn ended up in so much pain. The game tonight is sad. Hope they can step it up in the second half.
Beautiful flowers and low set gardens. Was salt in my wounds. Just had a quote to remove a couple of trees, a few thousand dollars. Wish I had stuck to the plan…
Denise
Thank you.
I feel your pain we had to take down 17 ash trees last winter. My daughter and son in law run a tree service business. Not sure if I had the family discount. Lol.
So beautiful, Kay. It does remind me of an English garden, as two others have mentioned. Plus, as several Arizonans have mentioned – this is not the place for that kind of beauty, especially this time of year. That’s why I so enjoy seeing all the gardens, flower pictures and Mary’s farm on the blog. thank you all for sharing.
Jan
I so enjoyed your recent postings. Have a pencil tree as well but do not root anymore as I do not have the room on my patio for the pots.
Carolyn – I’m hoping some of my friends might want a pencil tree! So do you trim and toss the pieces?
Kay’s garden is absolutely magnificent! Thank you so much For sharing. The work that it must take to maintain that…oh my.
What fun pictures. Nice garden that reminds me of an English home. I have some white iron chairs I junk picked! Perfect for putting plant pots on.
Mary I was thinking this morning how fun it would be to be a fly on the wall while you shop in a fabric store. I remember you said you had gone to Clear Lake. You must be pretty particular about what you buy as I’m sure you have a good stash leftover from your store.
Kay and Mary, Thanks so much for the beautiful garden tour. My garden is mostly shade so I envy all the beautiful hostas. I’m going to save this blog post to go back and enjoy over and over.
The garden pictures are beautiful! The little girl is adorable and I’m happy she’s sewing. Hugs,
Mary I would love for you to do your blog in the morning because that is when I usually read it. That way I won’t feel a day behind.
All of the garden pictures are beautiful. Kay certainly has an eye for composition. In the desert we are very limited because the heat fries plants.
Had a quilt almost finished but my hubs has been in hospital for 4 days so the quilt is on the back burner.
Connie, best wishes for a speedy recovery for your husband. I’m sure it’s not fun for you either! Take care!
Those are such beautiful garden photos. Everything looks so well cared for and healthy. How does she contain the sweet William/phlox from reseeding all over the beds?
Hot and humid here in Michigan. My neighbor is cutting wheat this week and baling straw. Makes me exhausted thinking about it. I can barely weed for more than a couple hours per day.
Pat
Thank you
The phlox do reseed , I just pull up ones I don’t want there. Some years are worse than others.
Love the garden tour! So many hostas, one of my favorites. Very kind of Kay to share her pictures.
Hello Mary. Just now getting a minute to read. Kay’s garden is really spectacular. She must spend a lot of time on it. Your new geraniums are lovely too. All that color is exciting. Years ago when I put annuals in i would look for the solid lime green coleus. Added so much spark to my garden. My poor gravel garden is overcome with weeds. And there at the edge is a volunteer cleome. I used to have tons and I’ve been weeding them since I put down stone. Funny that seed must have been there five years and still comes up.
Love to see Kay’s granddaughter learning to see a nine patch.
My plan is to fill my area with hostas. Kay’s hostas look fabulous to me. My favorites! Had them in every garden I’ve ever had, I think. Should I plant them this fall or wait for spring?
Carolyn – I will ask Kay – I have no idea.
Carolyn
Thank you
You can plant hostas now through fall.
If it really hot wait til it cools off.
Loved the garden pics today!!
Kay’s garden is beyond beautiful! Thank you for a lovely garden tour.
Beautiful flowers!
Kay, your gardens are amazing! You have certainly put some time and thought into them. Living in the desert now is not conducive to anything near this beautiful. I sure miss the Pacific NW this time of year. I’ll have to live vicariously through you and Mary.
Mary, love your gardens too! They are different from Kay’s but appealing to me. I had a pencil plant when we lived in WA and moved it with us when we relocated here. Silly me thought since we were in the desert it could live outside. Oops, nope! Froze to death our first winter. Hahahaha
Pat
Thank you I love being outside in my flowers.
It’s like quilting, can’t stop buying them.
Love all the photos today! I don’t know what pencil trees are. Darrell has been doing the watering for me still since knee surgery. We have some uneven grass areas and I definitely don’t want to fall! Just got through carefully pulling glue pieces off of my stitches 🤢. Dried blood 🤢. I am hoping it will feel less tight that way, sure looks better except for the bruising. Hang in there everyone!
Pamela glad the recovery is going well. I had a fever in my knee the 3-4 week and was very warm to the touch, all part of the healing and just continued taken the Tylenol. You can use a digital thermometer to take the surface temperature of your knee. It did get better. Keep up the therapy as the first four months are the most critical to return to range of motion. Hang in there and use the walker or cane when needed. Also if you want to have a safer walk from the car in bad weather you can ask your doctor for a letter to get a handicap sticker. They will give it to you for 6 months and be sure to ask if you can have it extended. Stay safe and heal
Ohh, thank you! I will be at 3 weeks out on Thursday and it does still feel warm to the touch. Didn’t know if that was normal. I put coconut oil on the stitches and it is soothing. I have my first physical therapy at the hospital gym Monday and I hope they won’t be too hard on me. I will ask my surgeon when I see him at 6 weeks about the handicap hanger thing. That would help! Thanks!
Pamela – I’ll take a picture of my original that’s too big to even live in the house – it’s in the quilt shop.
Stunning! Between your garden and Kay’s garden what a gift for the eyes.
Thanks.
Kay’s gardens are gorgeous! What a treat that was to see this morning. And her granddaughter is just precious. We had thunder yesterday but no rain, so I had to give my veggies an extra water. And I caught a squirrel enjoying one of my tomatoes!
Kay, thank you for your garden tour. I’ve always dreamed my flower beds would look even half that pretty. I had to go back and find your cat. What a beauty! I love calicos.
Mary, yes Caitlyn pulled her groin muscle again. I feel awful for her. Where will you put all the extra pencil trees over the winter. I’m sure you already have a plan for that. What a green thumb you both have.
Have a nice day everybody!
Theresa
Thank you. It is a lot of work. Stella the cat I’ve only had a year. She came from my neighbor and she survived a barn fire at their place last year.
Kay’s gardens are absolutely stunning 😍 such a beautiful variety and all so neat. I need to hire here to come to my house 🤣
Poor Keeper – what a dog’s life 🐶🐾😁
Kelli
Thank you. It looks pretty good right now I’ve been working in there all week because we are hosting a family reunion here,so made me get it all pretty.
What a perfect time of year for garden images. Took my breath away. You are funny this morning Mary. A very tiny orb spider strung a web a few weeks ago against the deck rail and the slider chair. Erased the first web to set another 30 degrees next to that position. Has erased and built around four more. Each evening we scout around for small ants and were able to provide five. She is really fast to pounce on them. This morning she is relaxing like it is beach time in Aruba.
A video on how webs are managed:
Kay has an eye for beauty. Beautiful gardens, grand-daughter, and sewing room wall. I would love to see a close-up of that as well.
Thank you, Mary and Kay! Bless you.
Mary, 10 new plants? 😳 You have the gift of finding such interesting things to do in your own backyard. Not everyone can do that. Enjoy.
Beautiful garden. Thanks for sharing. The Arizona desert is not that plant friendly.
Love the little “funnies” you have added.
Beautiful gardens! I loved your pictures
What fantastic flower beds!! Just beautiful!
Thank you, Kay, for sharing!
Love, love, love Kay’s garden. I watch garden tours on You Tube all the time and Kay’s would take a starring role any day of the week. I love how she uses those old bed frames in the background of several groupings. So fun and interesting. Colors are gorgeous, like a scrappy quilt. Hmmm Thanks for the great garden tour.
Sue
Thank you
I bought those bed frames at an auction.
I watch YouTube garden videos also. My favorite for garden tours is Whispers in the Garden.
Love the garden tour. Truly a butterfly and hummingbird paradise.
Beautiful garden tour. I love gardens like this but can’t take heat/humidity or tolerate bugs enough to care for one. And I may be a tad lazy these days. But I so appreciate those who can and do. Thanks for the photos.
kay, your garden is amazing. a proper english garden! you really planned and maintain well. even the cat is sporting the colors!!
Love love love the garden tour and your daily jokes /play on words 😉