A MAGNOLIUS DAY

Yeah, I can spell better than that... but that is what a neighbor of mine says... "It is a magnolius day!" It is the time of year when not much seems to be happening in the flower garden and things are just starting to happen in the veggie garden - I actually have tiny peas in those pods, for example. But, it is the time of year when the magnificent magnolias are in bloom. Oh how I love magnolias. Yes, they are messy to clean up after, but who isn't? Its nicer than a litter box or certain people's smelly sox on the floor. I won't mention any thing more about that! The cactus has just opened! What a yellow!

I have been busy in the yard trying to get half way caught up with the weeds and briars. I was doing real well, too, but my doctor grounded me. Well, the pain grounded me, I am just so stubborn I need someone "in authority" to actually say the words for me to understand it was time to back off or I would not make it to my class next month with the Dalai Lama - and this is a chance of a life time, so I'd better not blow it! But the weeds, honeysuckle, wild berry bushes, poison ivy, baby locust trees, sumac and such can really take over a yard if given any opportunity. And they really do take over the old stumps where I can't get in too close with the mowers. That pile of stuff growing on this stump is over my head! So... I have to get in with the hedge cutters and serious branch clippers and heavy duty rake. It is a tough job! See the little magnolia tree next to the big tree? OK, it is not that small, it is 8 feet tall - but it was completely buried under honeysuckle, VA Creeper and any other weed that could grow out there. The briars grow up into the trees and cover the azaleas and camellias if given a chance. Can you even find the azalea under all that stuff?? It is in there, right under the briars. These briars came out of the trees around the azalea. It was like playing tug o war with a tree! I had to quit when I got as far as the poison ivy.

Then, too, we have had a couple bad T-storms lately and lost a few branches. Who is going to clean this up? Spook? Punkin? Doesn't look like it, now does it? Not a lick of help from that department.

So, I thought I would try to look at the bright side of things... I was able to walk out in the yard and take a few pictures of the few things that are blooming... my sole surviving hollyhock (why can't I keep hollyhocks???) a few pansies the deer haven't eaten... The Peace rose is starting its second set of blooms. Soon the blueberries will be ripe. I can almost taste them! One of my Buddhas has almost disappeared behind the English daisy plant. I am going to have to see if I can split that plant up this fall. I hope you appreciate the effort it took to take these shots... not just the walking, but this is the first day of needing the A/C in order to breathe, but I also graciously (well, maybe not) fed this years first batch of starving mosquitoes to get these pictures. You're welcome!