Sooo it's been a long summer. I spent more time watering *everything* over and over, so that the gardens here in town have flowers and fruits, and our trees and shrubs up north survive the brutal drought. We got blessed rains last weekend, I can only hope they help that hickory in the woods survive. It's the one behind the oak and cherry that lost big chunks in July, 77mph wind that showed how rotten both are, I am sad to say. It was a narsty summer for some of these woodsy friends... And one of several "Chinese" praying mantises we saw flitting about in September.

While PMs do have local species, this is apparently an import. Such a distinct thing to see - almost like birds! When they fly, the front arms are out front, more than half the apparent length before the wings, really striking. We saw at least three, apparently males, and I am happy to have them. Of course if we ever have chickens, I am pretty sure these bubbas are toast....

Heavens to Murgatroyd, This is a Summer like I remember from my childhood. With the added attraction of Japanese beetles, which are numerous this year once again in Eastern Iowa. Not as many as a few years ago - when I had sooo many I went ahead and posted a couple of traps - it was like Chicago Ohare airport watching them come in ever 20-30 seconds. Now I just hand pick them off the choice plants - the rose, the meadowsweet. A cup of water with a teaspoon of Murphy's Wood Oil Soap. Then some critter comes and dumps that out and eats all the beetles every night. I imagine a wonderfully "regular" 'coon or possum..... So this was a working 4th holiday - a little yard work early in the week, work in the garage to build new shelves in the AM and peeling *really* gnarly wallpaper inside in the afternoon.....

BUT week before last some awesome alliums and tomatoes up north

Garlic gathered (part 2)

Tiger lilies here at home

And a first time visitor (for us) - a praying mantis - s/he appeared to be young and probably a nymph, since there were no wings...I haven't seen her/him since when we got the pix, so I don't know if someone made a snack of it (maybe 2" long) but we were thrilled to have such a bug in our yard....

So here it is a bit dry, a lot warm. I just wanted to post a nice picture of my friend/coworker who, with his family and the donation of land and seeds (http://rareseeds.com/) and some help from a local church, are working a garden. The goals are to provide produce for themselves, the church members and the local food pantries. It's not easy - if you've ever tilled a grassy area to establish a garden the same year - but it's going pretty well, although the dry conditions make it a challenge. I have a small garden, and when there is more than we can use it goes to my cohorts in crime at work, but this is a bigger effort, about 6000 sqft or so...hopefully will provide for a bunch of folks!

It is the last day of May, closing out a most unusual Spring for us all. Of course the fact that March was officially warmer than April was unique here in the Midwest. Then May has been as dry as I have ever seen - the home garden more than doubled the May rainfall with 0.86 inches during the last night. We are all thankful for that!

Here is the pot of geraniums and lobelia which are pictured in a previous post, coming into bloom and a lot more substantial looking! Hidden in the center are several Purple Majesty millets which I hope will be the vertical element, before too long.

The new Knockout rose which is going gangbusters in the back yard.

And scenes from the gardens up north, including the peony Felix Crouse, with a barely visible picotee of yellow on the center petals; Dianthus Diana's Blueberry; Penstamon Strictus, one of several Rocket snapdragons that survived the mild winters. And in the other flowerbed Achillea Summer Berries.

It's been a busy spring, where work has interfered with my true calling.... The flowers and tomatoes and peppers are in the home garden now, and we will visit the northern garden to see how all those alliums have fared. It was good in April but May has turned a bit dry, so crossing fingers. The flowers and the few mates and pepps will go in up there this weekend. The pot of geraniums pictured before are starting to bloom, and there are wee grasses in the center, Purple Majesty millet, which I hope will grow up as the vertical accents; pictures to come of it and the northern gardens. Still need to have something pithier to say, but not tonight.

So there they are, the leeks and onions and shallots oh my! Hiding behind the netting that should keep the big bully deer from giving them a premature haircut. The ones previously pictured in their flats, happily situated in their summer home. Of course this week they are predicting colder temps, much more seasonable, but this is in a fairly moderate microclimate (hill facing south) so we will hope for the best. The geraniums in the big pot will probably get covered this evening. All the flats will be back in onto the sunporch. Looking forward to waxing more philosophical-like some day, but for now it's a bit too busy a life...

Continuing Saga of Spring

Truly many of us are oscillating between enjoying the unseasonable weather and worrying about what happens when the warm weather runs dry. I finally broke down and planted out some of my geraniums in one of my big pots, so see what would happen. If necessary it can make the trip into the garage. They're all green now, but there are four cuttings from a trailing, magenta beauty from last year, and two each of white and "Rose Ice" from seed. And eight lobelia Fountain mix to fill in. When they're sprouted there will be some Purple Majesty millet in the center as the vertical accent. We'll see how it looks in a couple of months!

In the meantime, the ephemerals are blooming - bleeding heart, blue bells, dutchmen's breeches, bloodroot, rue anemone, and the violets of course. I think it is a solid month early.

And this weekend I will try to plant the root crops up north - onions, leeks, shallots, parsnips, salsify...the rest will wait for more normal times.