Notes From Zone 4

The heat wave continues here. It got as high as the mid-90s again, which just saps my energy and keeps me from wanting to do much outside at all. The string algae in the pond suddenly appeared today, from all of the hot weather, I guess. Frank fished most of it out with the net.

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It’s so pretty today that we really can’t stay inside for long. We went outside for a bit of fiddling at lunch today, and again right after work as well. The sun is out, the air is warm, and it’s like Summer magically happened overnight. The butterflies are out in full force, too. All sorts

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One of the things I got done this Saturday was planting the stuff from swapping that had come in during the week while I was out of town. I got some Monarda Purple Bea Balm in on the side of the pergola by the chives. I didn’t actually need more bea balm, but since I

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The June garden is so, so pretty that I can hardly stop taking pictures. So much is in bloom that it’s a veritable bonanza out there for gardenporn right now. After a raining Saturday yesterday, we were really itching for some nice weather, so we could get out there and get stuff done. So even

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It seems like it happened overnight, but poof, the comumbine are in bloom all over the garden. I like the areas I have them. I have many right in the front of the house, and they honestly seem the happiest. Big plants, many blooms, quite pretty. I took a dwarf variety last year and planted

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I’d been hoping to get another full day of spring clean up in this weekend, because I got so far on Saturday that I was all inspired. Instead, it rained on Sunday, all day long. Hard and cold rain, that I had absolutely no interest in getting out in. Oh well! So much for those

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The shade garden thingie I’ve got going in the front of the house is doing really well. Of course, like much of my garden, it’s in prime bloom now, and the garden tour is in a week, but what can I do. It’s pretty, perfect, right now. Columbine, foam flower, bleeding heart, lungwort, hosta, ribbon

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I’m so busy out in the garden right now. I’ve still got four flats of perennials to get in the ground. I’m working in the bed in the front of the house, on the side of the porch. It’s pretty shady in this bed, so I’m putting in a lot of columbine toward the middle, and hosta around the edges. I still haven’t figured out how to line it where it meets the gravel driveway, though. I’m sort of hoping that the hosta will be enough of a barrier, but somehow I doubt that will work. Anything short of a stone wall will get killed by the snow plow, though, so I need to think. The window boxes look great out there, now that they are finally out of the basement and where they belong. I just love the electric blue of the lobelia, draping over the edges.