THE LATE JUNE GARDEN '07

June is almost over... so I thought I'd better get this on here before it was gone! June is such a busy month in the garden. It is both a month of planting and a month of harvesting. It is a slower time in the flower department, but oh, the weeds! The excitement of the azaleas is finished until fall. The daffodils are turning brown and soon will have to be cleaned up. The last iris has bloomed. There are a few late peonies. I hope next year to see some results from some of the nine new ones I planted. I think 5 of them survived the trauma. The lilies bloom in random order each year. The phlox has started to bloom. Last year they lasted until early fall. The hydrangeas are always beautiful. By solstice the roses are ready for a rest. They will be back! It is amazing to still have my pansies from last fall. And then there are the magnolias! I am wondering who I should thank for the sunflowers, the squirrels, the blue jays, or the cardinals? I have several of them here and there, 2 in the main garden, one joined the hollyhocks. I always love it when the cactus blooms. Such an intense yellow! But that also means the spines are soft for the most part, which means it is time to weed inside the cactus plant. Spook likes to supervise the weeding inside the veggie garden. He is high above the garden! See the hydrangea in the background? The Tommy-toes are getting big. Soon, soon... The corn is waist high... Berries are delicious. I like June!

MORE THAN ONE WAY TO PLAY POSSUM

The other day, Snuffy "disappeared!" He was not in his chair, in his window, or on my bed. We looked and looked.

Apparently, Snuffy decided to join the possums for a nap. Maybe he thought no one would notice him. Hiding in plain sight!

MORE CRITTER ENTERTAINMENT

As I mentioned in a previous post, White Ears has had company lately. They have more energy than I can even imagine. (If I had half their energy, I would get this window washed and then maybe I could get better pictures, ya think?) Anyway, they periodically make a great leap to one of the feeders, sometimes chasing off a Cardinal. See the red blurr on the left? Papa Cardinal was not happy about it. They can't actually eat from the BIG feeder, but the grackles spill enough that the doves are well fed and there is enough left over for the furry pigs. Hmmm, come to think about it, I had better go fill that feeder, it is supposed to get HOT today.

ALI BABA, WHITE EARS AND JUMPER

What a blessing it is to have the time and to be in a place where one can be entertained by the other critters that share our little space with us. The squirrels, White Ears and her friends, have been most entertaining on a daily basis running up and down the redbud, jumping from branch to branch. Wednesday morning, there were two rabbits in the yard across the street that seemed to be having tons of fun. One kept running toward the other… lets just call them Jumper and Runner… Runner would run straight for Jumper who would go straight up in the air as Runner passed under him. Runner then would turn around and have another go at Jumper who would, of course, jump straight up as Runner passed under him again. What is so amazing is they kept doing this for over 10 minutes. Well, they would run-jump about 6 or 7 times, eat a bit of clover for a minute, two at most, and then do the run-jump thing again. It was hilarious! A rabbit’s version of Leap Frog?
A baby grackle had a bad experience on his fledging day, he landed on the ground and had no idea what to do. Spook saw it and went out to encourage him. Right? Well, actually, it was interesting. Spook never laid one paw on the little bird, and he had plenty of opportunity, he was less than 2 feet away. I heard all the commotion out in the back part of the yard and I could see Spook… and I could see the little black bird. Spook was lying down on the ground just watching. I think every grackle for miles was in the back yard screaming at the 2 of them. What a racket! I went out back, picked up the bird and put him in a tree. Spook followed and sat on the ground, just in case. So, I decided to “hide” the little thing from Spook and maybe give him a chance to rest… I put him in an empty hanging flower pot, put it in a better tree… the grackle family and friends got quieter, Spook lost interest and started chasing a toad… After a while, the parents (?) came down and sat with the baby in the tree giving him instructions, no doubt. Eventually he hopped up to the rim of the pot, flapped his little wings and made it to the next tree, then the next tree, then the next. The family reunion was over, the squawking was limited to the parents and Spook stretched out under the chair for a nap.
I told Spook he needed to be up on the car port defending his crunchies. The Blue Jays had been there stealing his food. What is worse, the grackles have been watching the Jays and now a cup of dry food can disappear in a little less than 2 hours. I have named the ring-leader Ali Baba as the rest are his trained thieves.

Ali BAba checking out the carport before making a mad dash for the cat food. Can you see his little behind with tail sticking up in the air on the heart shaped crunchie dish?
The pictures are really bad, I know, but they were taken thru the Plexiglas storm door.

A better picture of Ali Baba......

IS IT REALLY JUNE ALREADY?

Is it June already?
I can’t believe it is June already although having just had a couple of days in the eighties, why am I surprised? Along with the heat, the air is heavy with the scent of honeysuckle and magnolias.
I don’t miss the June’s of my past. Sure, it was exciting, the end of the school year. But it was also so unbelievably hectic. The kids would be crazy and the administration even crazier. Ah, but that was another lifetime, I will not dwell on that memory. Today my main concern is how many weeds I have in my garden, whether it needs to be watered, cleaning up after a winter of laziness, you know, the usual house and yard kind of things. I have really been busy – I mean REALLY! I just noticed my last post was May 21st! Shame on me! So, I will catch you up to date on the garden. The veggie garden is coming right along, but the pictures would be boring. Who needs to see a bunch of weeds anyway? I do have little peas on the vines, baby tomatoes, and the corn actually looks like corn and not just long, thick grass. I am excited, even if I don’t get to eat any of it, I still am excited. I don’t think I will build me a road side stand just yet! I did, however, rebuild the cats’ winter nest box, the one by the steps next to the back door. It is all new with lumber salvaged from the throw away pile down the street where they just built a new Sunday school building. So it is from the cut outs for the windows. The workmen were so nice, they even loaded the scraps in my van for me, glad they didn’t have to cart it off to the dumpster. It has insulation next to the wood and then a layer or 2 of carpet from old carpet samples my kids used to sit on when they sat on my classroom floor. See the vent for under the house? That is as warm as toast in the winter time – hot water baseboard heat.
Someone told me my irises were abnormally large. So I put one on here with my hand, also a large hand, holding the flower. It is bigger than a usual iris? These peonies were originally planted in Pennsylvania by my grandfather. My dad brought s couple pieces down here years ago. This one seems to be the happiest. It gets so heavy with blooms, I have to put a small fence around it to keep it standing upright.
The fringe tree was beautiful again this year.
More new iris.
Digitalis
Rhonda, the climbing rose
Mountain laurel, my pride and joy. It is not supposed to grow here. I brought a pile of rocks to put around it to make it feel at home. If you are not from here – we have NO rocks here on the shore.
Thanks for enjoying my garden with me. I know it isn’t much compared with other gardens, but it is a work in progress, and it keeps me doing something outside even if my doctor yells at me for over extending myself. I appreciate all your comments and encouragement. Thanks.