August Days

August days in Virginia can be hot and humid.  This year is no different.  We have been blessed with plenty of rain and plenty of sunshine.  Along with the rain and sunshine the flowers as well as the weeds require a gardener to stay on top of things.  Working outdoors this morning only allowed me to weed for an hour.  Then it was back indoors where I could cool off in the air conditioning.  

In spite of my uncomfortable situation these elements make the flowers happy in my garden.

The Vinca in the patio planter is doing well.  After not being able to have impatiens here (because of downy mildew), I'm happy to have found another substitute. 

Mushrooms are quite abundant with all the rain we have received.

We have a lot of shade on our patio that makes a wonderful spot to enjoy on the less humid afternoons.  We often read, or chat or just enjoy the sights that surround us.

Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird

I hope you have a hummingbird feeder nearby to enjoy their antics.  They are getting ready to take a long journey to the south so it's important to continue feeding these hungry ones as some fly as far as South America for the winter.  Isn't nature amazing?

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird

If you wish to make your own nectar for the hummingbirds it's quite easy.  I boil one cup of water with one quarter cup of sugar.  Do not substitute artificial sweetners or honey.  They need the sugar for nutritional needs and they can't digest honey.  It's not necessary to add red food coloring.  It may be harmful to them.  Believe me they will come.  Just be sure to replace the food as it can get moldy in the heat.

We mostly enjoy relaxing in the afternoons, but sometimes "I" notice jobs that need attending.  Our patio is concrete.  Since we are shady and have had such a wet summer it appeared to be quite dirty!  Grayden has a small pressure washer that he had used once.  He really was not pleased with it and so we hired a fellow to pressure wash our patio.  Unfortunately after he finished the job we had to replace the brick planter the following year!  Our patio has not been pressure washed since then.  Grayden, reluctantly agreed to try his pressure washer this time.  He and I were thrilled with the results.  I think he did a great job as you can see.  He was very careful with the planter.

I can't believe how dirty this concrete was!  Now in all fairness I need to tell you that I looked in my gardening journal and saw that it was last pressure washed in March of 1999!  He also pressure washed the dirty patio rug and the results were amazing.  Now maybe we'll not wait another 19 years to clean the patio!

The Heavenly Blue Morning Glory is covering the trellis.  Hopefully soon it will be blossoming.  I looked in my journal again and noticed that the blooms usually appear in late August.

The weather will be changing soon to less and less humidity and we will be able to enjoy our afternoons on our clean patio. 

Happy May

The month of May just sounds so happy, don't you think?  Although I do believe April was more like May in my part of the world.  Even though the gardener has to have restraint, sitting on the patio with Grayden is a lovely way to view our garden and relax.
  

The trailing vinca that Grayden planted is thriving.  We've had wonderful rain and warm days to encourage all of our plants to do well.

We found a new outdoor rug for our patio.  The old one had seen better days.  It's so nice to have a defined spot on our concrete patio.  As you can see the new rug is smaller than the old one, but the quality of this one is much better and hopefully will last longer.

Caution photo ahead is of a snake!  

If you're frightened scroll on down.  As I was hobbling along and looking down, I came upon a black snake sunning himself in the grass.  I'm not a big fan, but I do know they have their place in our world.  Considering all the moles and voles we've had in the past he or she can have all he or she wishes.

I can't leave you with that creature.  Our roses are really doing well this year.  They are blooming about 3 weeks early, but we are enjoying them so much.  The Climbing Pinkie has just been the prettiest ever!

"Won't you come into my garden?  I would like my roses to see you. "

Richard B. Sheridan

The Climbing Pinkie is not a full petaled rose, but I love her delicate bloom.  We don't have a lot of sun in our yard that is required of roses.  But I do have a couple spots here and there where I can grow them.

Even the knockout red roses are doing well.

Thank you for coming into my garden today.  How is your garden growing these days? ♥