We had quite a bit of rain yesterday, and I could practically hear the garden sigh in appreciation. I've always loved the way the rain beads on the leaves of the lady's mantle (above).
We've got quite a few midsummer flowers coming into bloom now.
The lobelia had been overshadowed by a giant weed for much of the spring -- I was waiting to see what it was before I pulled it up. (Turned out to be a great willowherb.) I finally removed it from the pot and the lobelia bounced back and bloomed as usual.
The passionflower has put out lots of blossoms...
...as has the agapanthus.
This dianthus is from a couple of years ago -- it was looking pretty rough this spring so I cut it back, and now it's come out with fresh growth and new flowers. I thought these were annuals but this one just keeps chugging along.
The red-hot pokers have sent up several flower stalks.
In terms of non-floral news, there isn't much. I was home all day yesterday. I gave the bathrooms a deep cleaning, which they needed, and read a lot of "The Overstory." I also watched the rest of Netflix's "Snowpiercer" -- I waited to finish it because Dave didn't really like it, so I had to find time outside our normal TV viewing schedule. I think he missed out, but then, he didn't like "The Wire" either.
There's still no sign of my t-shirt from the states. This is the last entry on the mail tracking:
As far as I know, no one came to the door on the 23rd, nor have I been notified of anything. Why didn't they try to redeliver it on Friday, or yesterday? I suspect they didn't deliver it at all and it's actually being held in customs -- but who knows.
Sounds like your garden is populated by heroes from Greek mythology. Agapanthus grabbed Dianthus by the throat and smote him. Then Olgathus smote Agapanthus and Stevus was not amused.
ReplyDeleteAs demonstrated by your photo Lady's Mantle is brilliant rained upon. Red Hot Poker? Am pretty ambivalent about them. Obviously they are flowers. So that's good. What is not so good that they remind me of soldiers on parade. Stiff. Stilted. In uniform. Should, for my sins, I be reincarnated as a Red Hot Poker I shall repent without reservation.
ReplyDeleteWatching films in company. Mixed blessing. Some, as you say, best to be watched on one's own. Having said that I love watching certain films/box sets with my son (at his suggestion). Say, Sons of Anarchy (OH MY GIOD), or Justified or, even more MY GOD, The Vikings. To understand the joke, the Angel has an uncanny sense of reading his mother - even when only at the respective ends of one very long sofa. So, every so often, he'll press the pause button to check whether I am still with the plot. Usually (that's the uncanny part) at the moment when I am just about to lose it [the plot], can't quite follow, am confused. He'll explain - then we proceed. No, I am not ninety nine. I am probably younger than you are.
As an aside: I find it interesting with which fictional character(s) anyone tends to connect. One may, or may not, read a lot into that.
Daisy waving greetings, no - make that a sunflower,
U
Your photos are as always stunning. I'd really enjoy that rain. But even more I'd enjoy your garden.
ReplyDeleteThose flower photos make me almost swoon!
ReplyDeleteQuite The Award Winning Photos There - Sure Hope The T-Shirt News Works Out Soon - Keep Busy And Think Snow
ReplyDeleteCheers
The raindrops on leaves is lovely. As are the other photos. All that constant garden work has paid off.
ReplyDeleteAlphie
If anything like here, out mail service has gone terribly wrong, as prices have increased. The passion flower is not familiar to me and looks quite lovely.
ReplyDeleteAs you probably know, passionflower grows wild down here in Central Florida. When I first moved down and went for a walk in a state park we came across them. It was such a wonder.
ReplyDeleteAll those blooms are beautiful! What a colorful assortment. I think passion flowers are the most unusual flowers.
ReplyDeleteI finally got my order yesterday, but no one ever followed up with a status.
There's lots of great color around your place.
ReplyDelete“Agapanthus” is one of my favorite words.
ReplyDeleteAs always, your photos are excellent, and I enjoy seeing all of them, but the first one of the water droplets on the lady's mantle leaves is absolutely exquisite. You ought to enter it into a photo competition.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to get some red hot poker. I planted some liatris last year. the plants reemerged but no blooms.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are beautiful. I, too, love photographing the raindrops on the plants. They sparkle so! Have you called your Post Office about your package? I would and I'd let them know what your inquiries are showing about it not being able to be delivered. It might help. I hope it arrives soon. Enjoy your day, hugs, Edna B.
ReplyDeleteWonderful flowers. Mail service, not so much. In answer to your questions, our monsoon season usually lasts through September but we're told that westerly winds are preventing the moisture from entering the state this year, although there have been some showers. As to planting a real tree in the backyard, we live in a rental, our landlord said they wouldn't replace the tree and SWMBO said it's too expensive for us.
ReplyDeleteWe planted the same kind of dianthus annuals many years ago, and they overwintered here for probably ten years until we had a winter with little snow cover to insulate them and most of them died. I've been trying to get them to overwinter again but our winters have changed - there's a lot of freezing and thawing and loss of snow cover. They must be hardy, though, to have lived through our formerly deep winters. I love dianthus. One of my favourites, in all their various forms.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your garden pictures; aside from bulbs which bloomed and died, we've had no flowers this year so it's nice to see other folks' gardens. Here, it's been a crazy summer of cold/hot/cold/hot which has not been good for growing from seed. (And I didn't get out for transplants.)
YP is hilarious as usual. I'd read that story :)
ReplyDeleteI just checked my yarn status & it's the same as last time:
Arrival from abroad Wed, Jul 15, 7:27 PM EDT United States
Apparently it's being delivered by pack mule!
Steve I think all deliveries have the coronavirus excuse to steal, not deliver etc. I ordered my grandbaby a tickle me Elmo and I tracked it all the way to my little town and on the Fed Ex truck for delivery. Guess what? They did scan that it had been delivered but no Fed Ex Truck came by my house and my cameras did not show a Fed Ex truck parked outside my house. I was very angry and called Walmart and explained to them what happen. They sent me another one but whoever the driver was stole it. I called Fed Ex and reported it. I've also had packages stolen by the U. S. Postal workers. I ordered a Jewelry set from HSN (ear rings, bracelet and watch). They carried that home with them and took an iron to loosen the glue on this Tyvek envelope so they could reseal it and stole the ear rings out of the package. They kept it in their possession for 10 day. I turned them in to the inspector general. The next package was some garden seeds because before I got very sick I had a back yard vegetable garden. I tracked it all the way to supposedly it was delivered and put in my mailbox which I knew was a lie because our mailboxes are in a cluster and small. They said it was delivered. I called our post office and told them they had only a day to get my package to me or I am going to walk in there with the cops. Would you believe my package showed up at my door. They had stolen it, I just told my doctor this morning if they didn't prescribe me an antidepressant I am going to start fighting. (laughing) You need to go to the post office (if possible) with your I.D and note they left in your hand and demand your package to be given to you.
ReplyDeleteBummer about the mail service and t-shirt delivery snafu. Sure hope that shirt shows up. I can't wait to see it!
ReplyDeleteThe flowers are beautiful there. Lovely photos.
By the way HSN asked me to return those items to them and they sent me another jewelry set.
ReplyDeleteAlchemilla mollis is beautiful. I remember having a giggle seeing it for sale in a garden centre, when it was a common plant in the fields of our smallholding!
ReplyDeleteGz
ReplyDeleteIs right that alchemilla is lovely
I've just planted some
YP: "Anthos" is apparently the Greek word for flower -- and it certainly seems possible that some plants would be named partly for Greek gods. The "Dian" in dianthus supposedly comes from a reference to Zeus. (I'd have thought Diana, but whatever.)
ReplyDeleteUrsula: Lady's mantle is practically a weed, but I love it. It never disappoints. Sometimes it's helpful to have someone to help explain plots. When Dave and I watched the TV show "Dark" recently, we needed a lot of time to jointly analyze what the heck was going on!
Mitchell: Thank you! We definitely don't have the sunshine you guys do, though.
E: Then they've done their job!
Padre: Yeah, who knows what's up with this shirt.
Alphie: It has! I always feel a sense of accomplishment when something blooms once again. We've kept it alive another year!
Andrew: I find the deterioration of postal services quite bewildering.
Colette: Yes! I remember seeing them in the wild there.
Sharon: Well, I'm glad it arrived, at least! Whew!
Red: There is!
Ms. Moon: Apparently it comes from the Greek words for "love" (agape) and "flower" (anthos).
BethB: Thanks! It's all the plant's doing. I just pressed the button.
Ellen: We love our red-hot poker plants. One of them isn't in a great place and I think we're going to try to move it next year. Fingers crossed.
Edna: I haven't called them yet. I'm going to wait a little longer and see what happens. If it doesn't show up within the next week or so I'll follow up.
Catalyst: Ah, I see. We rent too, and we've planted a TON of stuff, but we don't mind the expense. To us it's worth it.
Jenny-O: I never knew dianthus was such a hardy plant!
Bug: I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. Who knows what's going on out there.
Angelicastar: Wow, those are some nightmare postal stories! I don't think I've had anything quite that bad happen. (Stay tuned on the shirt!) Glad you were able to get some of those situations corrected. I haven't received any note from the post office -- just the tracking info that says they tried to deliver it. It's the weirdest thing.
Robin: It's a pretty funny shirt. I thought so, anyway.
GZ: Yeah, it turns up wild here too. We have a clump in one of our borders that we didn't plant, and several clumps among the patio stones that seeded themselves.
John: Good! You won't regret it, though it DOES spread. (I think that's a good thing.)