Beautiful Sunny Day

The heat and humidity has finally lifted! It has not rained in two whole days. I hope to get back to digging and dividing iris this weekend. Some of the phlox are still in bloom, they have such a nice scent. The nasturtiums have finally started blooming, not sure why they took so long. My hydrangeas are in their full glory.

The Days of Weird Mushrooms

With 10 inches of rain in 7 days, mushrooms are popping up all over, I have noticed some people's yards look like they are covered with mushroom lawn ornaments. I also noticed today that my hybrid tea roses are loaded with buds, I hope they get to bloom before our first frost.

I did not notice the caterpillar on the first photo until I was cropping it in PSP.

The weekend has once again flown by, where does the time go??? Back to work tomorrow. But it will be a short week for me as I am taking Friday off, which will give me a four day weekend........yeah! I think we are going to go to Reiman Gardens, I say I think because we have had plans to go there about 3 times over the summer and something has happened each time and we were unable to go, hopefully this time. I love going there, the gardens and the butterfly house, does wonders for my karma, ya know what I mean??? :)

Sunday Blooming Sunday

My garden is not at it's best right now, summer is winding down, I am ready for fall, I love the fall, I am tired of the heat and humidity. This has been a very unusual August with all the rain. It rained seven days in a row, we received over 10 inches during that time. The creeks and rivers are high but nothing like some parts of the country. Today was beautiful, tomorrow is supposed to be as well. I have a list of things I want to get done outside. It is time to dump some of my annuals and get ready for the fall display of mums.

Hot & Humid

OK, it is official, I am ready for fall. The heat and humidity are getting to me, and now we are having monsoons as well. We have gotten 6 inches of rain since Saturday AM, with more predicted every day until Friday. This is not my favorite type of weather so therefore I have been spending more time inside, not to mention more time at work which I am not happy about either. The weekend forecast does sound good, with sunshine and lower humidity, I hope the weatherman is correct. I have lots of things I would like to do outside and would rather not sweat while working :).

I have been digital scrapbooking again. This is fun.

Iowa State Fair

I have been wanting to go to the Iowa State Fair for several years. I had not been there since the early 70s. What a miserable trip that was. We walked and walked and walked and then walked some more, which would not have been bad if you could actually see something when you got there but the crowds were so large it was difficult to look at anything. The only building we actually enjoyed was the Agricultural Building and we were there about 9:30, so the real crowds had not started yet. I really wanted to see all the photographs in the cultural arts building but there was no chance of even getting close to see any of the photos. The same with the arts and crafts, I never did find the quilts, needlework and baked goods etc. The information booths were so busy you couldn't get to one to ask any questions, the map I printed out off of their web site was for the most part worthless, it listed the various buildings but not what was on display in the building. We were sitting on a bench, having a lemonade, three buses stopped right in front of us with police escorts, Senator Grassley got off the bus with a foreign delegation, I wanted to give him a piece of my mind (he was only 3 feet from me) but my husband suggested that was not a good idea :). I did get a funnel cake, which turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Never again!

Spider Flower (Cleome)

Cleome is one of my favorite annuals, it is one of the flowers I remember from my childhood, an older neighbor lady had spider flowers planted in her garden, they really caught my attention. I plant them every year some years they reseed themselves, some years they don't.

Digital Scrapbooking

Since it is too hot to stay outside for long, I have been digital scrapbooking.

I worked outside this AM for about 2-3 hours, it was hot, hot, hot. I fertilized my roses for the last time this summer, where has the summer gone? Except for the heat and humidity it seems hard to believe it is mid August already.

Interesting Sedum

I love sedums, Autum Joy being one of my favorite plants, the butterflies and bees love it as much as I do. I have several other sedums, one that I planted last year, I cannot remember for sure which one it is but I think it is SEDUM spectabile Matrona : STONECROP. The leaves and flower buds are the blackest I have ever seen in a plant before.

Bright Sunshiny Day

This has been a long spell of heat and humidity. I am ready for it to end now :).