Day 524: Drizzly Friday

The remains of the poppy

Torrential rain yesterday left our yard too muddy for working.  The poppy and flowering plum collapsed, but all the other plants are rejoicing.

Day 523: Rainy Thursday

Yesterday, I was swimming and gardening.  Today, I could have gone swimming in our little creek which was wild after hours of torrential rains.  Tropical storm Andrea is moving quickly along the east coast and promises to drop tons more rain in the next few days.  I hope Emily and Adam's wedding in the Delaware Park Rose Garden will not be disturbed on Saturday. 

Water was flowing from the street down the slope beside the stone wall garden, washing away all the grass seed.  But my hostas are very happy.  They will thrive in this cool, wet weather.

Mary's eye surgery went very well.  She was finished and tucked into bed by 12:30.  Tomorrow, we go  back for an exam, but her vision should improve greatly after removal of the scar tissue.  Afterward, I watched one of my favorite movies, Notting Hill, and took a nap!  It was wonderful!

Day 522: Red poppy

For years I have waited to see this poppy bloom.  It seemed that as soon as the bud swelled and readied to open, the deer would come by and eat the entire head.  Now finally today, it was revealed and it is glorious! 

All the lilies have been moved and hostas arranged in their places.  The new lily bed is finished and mulched. Only three more beds to tend so we can see the end in sight!  

Day 521: Fledgling

When we woke, it was quiet, no frantically chirping baby robins.  But where did they go?   I strolled around the yard to assess our progress and decide where to work next.  As I passed the park bench,   my movements startled a baby sitting on the back rest.  It flew low and wobbly into the street and I feared it would be hit.   Fortunately, it flew right back into the garden.  Mom delivered worms to another baby hiding in the weigela. But that's only two of the five babies.   I hope the cats don't discover them.

Fledgling

A million roses

The Stone Wall Garden

(Finished!)

Day 520: College landscaping

The new gazebo between Gregory Hall and the Commons

Entry to the new science building taken through the webbing

Poppies in a yard on Central Avenue

Rhododendrons outside Reed Library

Roses on Center St.

Yellow Iris on Risley St.

We finished the border garden at 8:50 tonight!  It looks terrific!  Hooray!  Tomorrow, I move on to the stone wall garden. The end is in sight.  

Day 519: Forty feet left

We mulched another forty feet today and that leaves only forty feet along the border garden.  Hooray!  I hope to finish the last section tomorrow since it will be cool.  Once this garden is done, that leaves five more smaller gardens to go.  Thursday and Friday will be out because we are taking Mary to Buffalo for her eye surgery.

It was an interesting Penelope today, as always.  One of our dear friends had to put her husband in the county home this past week for rehab.  Years ago, he had a stroke and he has been deteriorating physically ever since. His mind is still sharp, but movement is so difficult.   She has devoted her life to caring for him at home and they have been doing remarkably well.  However, now he could not get up from a chair or walk.   They are twenty years our senior, so the decline is to be expected.   The life changes we are witnessing in our friends are distressing and I can't help wondering what the future holds for us.

Last year during this week, we were in Iceland!  There, the valleys and hillsides were covered with soft blue lupines that were shorter and the leaves were fuzzier.  I treasure the one in my garden, but in Iceland, they run wild.

Lupines

Plentiful rain has insured lots of growth for each flower and shrub.

Pink Azaleas

Day 518: Baby robins

Robins build eleven nests on the cross beam supporting the porch roof just outside the front door.  Only two are occupied and the robins become distressed whenever we walk through the front yard.  The babies are well-trained cause mom chirps a pattern from the dogwood tree and they are completely silent.  I caught a shot of them with their mouths closed by orders from mom.  They should be fledging soon.

I worked on the portion of the border garden closest to the street and finished about thirty feet.  A hundred baby maples had to be pulled and tons of leaves were still lodged in between the shrubs.  I have to replace many of the hostas cause they are so stunted.

Steve went to a trailer fire in Hanover and on the way back he noticed that Ran Lydell's Eagle Bay hosta garden was open.  As soon he told me, we took off to visit.  Ran was the one who got me and my sisters started on gardening with hostas and lilies back in 1996.  

At 74, Ran is still working full time at a landscaping job in Buffalo.  His wife is a full time nurse, so they have a hard time keeping up with the huge property and acres of hostas, lilies, succulents, cacti and rare plants of all types.  They closed the shop on Route 60 and consolidated all the plants on to one property.  He is a master hybridizer and one of the foremost experts on hostas in the entire world.  They have traveled the nation in search of unusual plants.

When I started buying hostas from him years ago, I created a base of some of the most dazzling, but reasonably priced hostas.  Over the years, I tried to add six or seven unusual plants each year.  More recently, his gardens have not been open much and I had to resort to common Home Depot hostas.  Today I bought six dazzling and unusual hostas.  Now to decide where to place them for best effect.  I've lost track of what each of them is called and most of the labels washed away.  I think the total number of different types that we have is around 100.

A major storm is moving through the area tonight and the winds are howling!  I hope my new plants will not be harmed by the pounding rain.