Blooms This Week

Peony 'Kansas'

Rose 'Fiesta'

new Peony 'Sorbet'

new planter for daughter's home- she picked the flowers on one of our shopping trips with grandma

Peony 'Nick Shaylor'

planter by back door- added 'Papaya' petunia and more orange diascia when first ones didn't make it this spring

daughter's blue planter- it has been delivered to her townhome

what's not blooming- yard full of branches to pick up after stormy week

Astrantia

Gaillardia growing in rocks on timber steps

another self seeded patch of Gaillardia-a variety of color and forms all from a few starter plants

Phlox 'Spring Delight' and Heuchera 'Hercules' 

Penstemon 'Dark Towers'

Rose 'Henry Kelsey'

Rose 'Hansa'

Calla Lilies-kept in pots over the winter in basement to grow again in the spring

unnamed small Dahlia

Petunia 'Pretty Much Picasso' - this one doing better than ones I tried last year

Heuchera flowers growing up through Ninebark 'Centerglow'

Heuchera 'Rave On' and Ninebark

After working so hard last week and because of stormy weather I haven't done much outside this week. I still have some things to do when the sun comes back out. First priority is getting the new apple trees planted before they get blown over again.
 Next is another apple related task-bagging the apples not yet touched by bugs to keep them bug free. Others swear by this method. I was going to try it last year but was too late. This year it looks like there are still several good young fruits. My damaged trees are still doing okay so I'm going to bag the apples and let them keep growing. By bagging apples I mean you put ziploc bags over the young fruit, cut a small hole in bottom for drainage and let them mature bug free without pesticides. Have resisted spraying my apple trees but would like to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
My vegetable garden is asking to be weeded again also. I can say I am done planting now that I finished daughter's planter but never said done completely when there's a lot of summer left and there's end of the season sales to come. I always end up with a few more things as time goes on. I still have bags of mulch to add to hillside garden soon.
In this summer that seems will never come even when the calendar says it's here, we have only swam in our pool 2 days(when we had 100 degree plus temps). The husband ordered some solar sun rings to replace our heavy old solar blanket which fell apart by the end of last year. They're big round rings that are slightly inflated and have magnets to keep them together in water but come apart easily for removal. Hopefully they will work well to help increase the water temp so it's comfortable for swimming. I like looking at the clear blue water even in the cold but would like to enjoy it from the inside. The weather people keep promising warmer days but it's only 59 degrees outside right now on the second day of summer(and raining again).