Zinnia Collage, Finally Rain

We got rain!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah! You could almost hear the flowers, veggies, shrubs, lawn breathe a sign of relief. It rained and rained and then rained some more. The total was 3 inches, with more in the forecast tonight and tomorrow. I did not have to water one thing tonight, that was a nice break.

July 15th, 2002

Today marks 5 years since I lost my best friend..................Jessi Belle will live forever in my heart. She had Cushings Disease, we tried really hard to save her but it was not meant to be. She would have been 10 years old the following February. She was my shadow, I still miss her, she was a special dog.

Few More Blooms for Garden Bloom Day

July 15th Garden Bloom Day

We need rain badly! I am being kept busy just watering, my hubby is busy watering all the veggies.

I took most of these photos this AM after coming back from walking the dogs. My roses are kind of at a stand still right now, mostly buds, after the first flash of blooms, my pot plants are all doing well. This past spring my husband built me a raised herb bed, I call it my "garden for the senses", we enjoy walking by and brushing the leaves to release the various aromas, I am going to do a post on it one day soon.

Just A Note

While this blog is a garden blog first and foremost, gardening enables me to spend time with another of my favorite past-times which is photography. I shared another interest of mine last week (soy candle making), I have brought up my pets more than once, in fact I have thought of starting a blog about my dogs, cats, and fish tank but decided I didn't have time. Cooking is another passion of mine. I baked this Lemon Meringue pie today and thought it would make a nice photo. I got the recipe at Taste of Home website.

Thursday in Iowa

We still need rain, the grass is turning brown, I spent an hour or more after work tonight watering. I had to water some things that I rarely ever water. No rain in the forecast and it is supposed to get hot again Sunday.

I have never met a lily I didn't like and this one is no exception. The rose is on a climber. My sensation cosmos are just starting to bloom, I love Cleome and Sensation Cosmos planted together but the Cleomes do not seem too happy this year as they are very short, with no sign of a bud. I hope they catch up. I remember when I was child I used to walk to this elderly lady's house, she had a huge flower garden, all planted in rows, she had what she called spider flower (cleome), it was one of the first flowers I started planting. I no longer remember her name but I remember her flowers.

Erin my faithful garden companion, isn't she just too cute??? :)

The Heat is ON

It is still really warm and humid, I guess there were scattered showers last night but we did not get a drop. I just finished watering again.

This plant is Standing Cyress, it is not supposed to grow in zone 4 gardens but I have had it in my garden for a number of years, it is a biennal, the first year it only gets about an inch tall, then the second year it grows to about 5 feet and blooms this time of year, it self seeds. I used to have some yellow ones as well, but for some reason they are all this dark orange/reddish color now.