welcome to my home ~ july yard and gardens tour

 Welcome to my home on a perfect summer day!

It's only 80 degrees with 42% humidity. That's low for our area. Feels so cool

and dry after recently having temps near 90 with humidity levels at almost

90%, too. We could've cut that humidity with a knife and served it for dinner.

 I turned off the A/C this morning and opened all the windows and

doors. I spent the morning sweeping the porch and patio, pulling weeds,

deadheading and watering flowers, and hosing down dirt off the siding.

 I pulled this black table out of my kitchen the other day and decided to

use it on the porch. My marigolds on the bottom shelf aren't looking too 

lively lately. I don't think they were getting enough sun.

Pesto, anyone? This pot on the front porch originally held just one basil plant and

 a cilantro plant - but cilantro only does well for so long, and then it gets too long

 and stalky with feathery tops.

I made a seating area in our tiny front yard. See the stepping stones leading

to the side of the house? Let's take a walk...

This bench is in desperate need of some pots of colorful plants on it. However,

it's going to have to wait until we have the neighbor's mulberry tree trimmed.

Her huge mulberry tree hangs over the side of our yard and patio - and over

our roof, too. It drops mulberries by the hundreds every single day. They fall

onto our roof and into the gutters, into my plants, on the walkway, and all over

the patio. Then they rot and ferment, which attracts flies and mosquitoes. Talk

about aggravating! We had a tree trimming service come this morning to write

up an estimate. We'll get a couple of other estimates as well.

 In the meantime, I've had to clear the patio of the glider, ottoman and rug.

The two single rockers are pushed up against the side of the house.

I sweep up the mulberries every single day. You can see how stained

the patio is. It really stinks, because we haven't been able to use this

space for awhile. Although the mosquitoes are so bad right now, we probably

wouldn't be sitting out there that much anyway!

Some of the house plants are loving the shade on the patio.

So here's where I moved the glider and ottoman ~ right off the back of the patio.

How do you like the colorful new pillows on the glider? I scored those at Target

the other day in the outdoor clearance section for only $4.48 each.

Going into the back yard, you'll find my butterfly garden. I know it doesn't look

like much right now because nothing's blooming. Oh - and if you ever decide

to make a wine bottle border, don't be lazy like me and not soak the labels off

first. I thought that all the rain would wash the labels off the bottles. Oops.

The purple coneflower/echinacea is riiight there. Bloom, baby, bloom!

We've had two butterfly bushes in this garden for many years now - one yellow,

one purple. They never bloom until August. I don't think they get enough sun.

Here's one of the bushes...growing just fine, right?

Well, here's the other. I am so sad. I pruned both of these bushes back last winter

so I have no idea what happened. This is the first year that this butterfly bush hasn't

come back. Any ideas as to why, out there?

Against the back of my house are some tomato and pepper plants. I was excited

to see today that I'm finally getting some fruit on the vines. (Yes, tomato is a fruit!)

The pepper plants aren't doing well - they never have in our soil. We thought we'd try

one last time this year.

You all have seen my herb garden, also against the back of the house.

But now this garden has a new member - say hello to Mrs. Hen. Why is she

back there? Because she's broken all the way down the middle of her back.

I glued her back together but the crack down her back is very obvious. I 

couldn't bear to throw her away (aren't we all flawed?), so I found a spot for

her outside. I think she's happy.

 The circular garden in the middle of the back yard is really taking off...the phlox

is starting to bloom, the russian sage is reaching its limbs to the sky, and the
yellow tickseed is turning its face to the sun. See the little round-leafed plant
to the right, underneath the russian sage? When I first saw this photo on my
computer, I thought it was a clump of weeds. So I went outside to pull this so-
called weed, only to discover its rhubarb! Totally forgot that I planted some there.

I am so glad we decided about 10 years ago to plant arborvitaes in the back yard

for privacy from the neighbors, instead of putting up a fence. Trees are so much

prettier, don't you think?

We have such a small back yard with neighbors right behind us, so privacy

is a big issue.

 Come along to the other side of my house and I'll show you the

monster hostas. They're ready to show off their purple blooms any day now.

Uh oh, another plant that didn't come back - this bush. (Forgot what

kind it is.) Again, we have no idea why this happened. Only a few of

the branches have leaves.

 Further along this north side of the house, more hostas are showing off and

the hanging begonia is in all its glory.

Well, looky here...it's Monkey and Clementine looking out the back window!

 They're wondering why they can't be outside, too. Poor kitties.

 Thanks for joining me on my yard tour. I'll leave you with this poem from my

favorite poet - Mary Oliver.

 I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
(From the poem, A Summer Day by Mary Oliver)

Partying this week with Lavender Garden Cottage

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