Living outside

P8120019.jpgI just never wanted to come inside the house today. The weather was about as perfect as I could ask for, and I hadn’t been out there weeding all week as I was out of town. I was afraid that the weeds would have taken over, and I was right to be worried! Wow, do things grow fast in the heat.

P8120051.jpgThere was one bed (back behind the gazebo, where we have one of our old roses planted) that was just absolutely covered in weeds. I attacked that for much of the morning, but I feel like I made really good progress. It’s by the controls for the irrigation, though, and we need to do something to separate the bed from the lawn much better, because I just can’t need to work that hard to keep the boundaries in place. The poor rose was practically smothered.

P8120031.jpgThere are so many different things are in bloom. The (annual) water hyacinth that Carol gave me for mother’s day is so pretty, light blue, floating on the pond. I wonder how I can over-winter it? I know it’s not hardy at all, but how do you keep a water plant alive inside? I wish I had an aquarium or something, because it’s a beautiful plant.

P8120022.jpgI worked a lot weeding the edges of the driveway in front, too. This is another area that takes far too much work to keep under control. As much as we don’t like to use poisons and weed-killers, we need to do something here. My hands are bloodied and all scratched up from pulling so many weeds up through the gravel. What I got done looks far more tidy, but still. Far too much work, and there’s a lot more to go.

P8120026.jpgThe tall garden phlox that I got from Brashears earlier in the year are all blooming madly. They aren’t in a good spot though, and I need to remember to move them. One of the irrigation heads is right behind them, so they are getting way too much water, and I see black spot all over them. Bad, bad. I must think about where I should move them for next year, and figure out what the best time to move them will be.

P8120041.jpgThe yellow water lily bloomed today, and is just as beautiful as the pink one, which is blooming again. The fish are all doing well, too, and there are frogs galore in the pond. The water in the pond isn’t doing so well. We’ve got to figure out a better way to deal with all the algae. I’ve heard a barley ball would work, but I’m not sure if it’s okay to put in with the fish. Must investigate. Did I mention the frogs? There are a lot of very big frogs in the pond — so cute!

P8120044.jpgThe pale yellow tall marigolds that I planted near the old well, right next to the pale yellow cream colored rose are both looking just wonderful. I like these so much, and I don’t remember what they are called, but I know I started them from seed. I want to remember to grab some of them when they go to seed so that I can grow them again. So pretty.

P8120047.jpgThere’s a tall purple spikey annual pinkish sort of thing that I don’t know what it is, I don’t remember where I got it, and I really really like it. (how’s that for being organized and specific? Ha.) I took several pictures of it, so hopefully I can figure out what it is so I can be sure to get it again. Actually, I think it’d do very well in my window boxes as well.

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