Wordless Wednesday: Hummers and Honeysuckles

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Water... wiser?

It's flowering tree time! A favorite time in the gardens..

 I hear them out there, talking amongst themselves, and I’m hoping what they’re discussing is how to have this mess of a good idea, all finished up... today.

Because this whole limbo thing? Well, it's making me batty.

I'm doing this for you, trees! I'm putting in a sprinkler system.

 Gardening is a passionate hobby, but it goes further than that. I work from home, in advertising, which requires a lot of creativity. I was never very good at this when they had me cooped up in a cubicle, in a great, big ad agency. Playing in the mud? Well, that seems to stimulate the cranial appendage like nobody's business!

Honeysuckles are celebrating.

 When I get stuck, can't come up with a good idea, I sit in those gardens, pull weeds in those gardens, zone out with the simplicity of happy blooming things... and, bam! The creative idea I've been searching for magically pops into my brain.

Not being able to play with my flowers, for 7 long days, has been killing me. I can't bear to go out there until this project is done.

Cutie Pie English Daisies

This summer, I made the [painful] decision to install an automatic in-ground sprinkler system. In the dryest half of the yard.

I've always been very proud of the fact that I have beautiful gardens, without wasting a drop of water, but my second passionate hobby, horses, is eating up all the free time I used to spend schlepping sprinklers to and fro.

So, I bit that proverbial bullet. Hired a sprinkler installation crew who showed up a week ago, dug massive (heartless) trenches through my garden beds and then..... disappeared.

I twiddled my thumbs for 48 hours. Tried hard to remain calm. Gave up on that idea and began leaving angry telephone messages.

(This is soooo common in Park City, Utah. Landscapers double book themselves to make as much money as they possibly can during our too-short summers. And, clearly, I fell victim to this dilemma.)

That was so yesterday dead Daffodils, orange Geum and purple Pincushion Flowers

Delphinium

 Yesterday I drove over to their building and scared the office manager half out of her wits.

Got the address of the 'prioritized sprinkler project' and paid my guys a visit. Talked to them, through clenched teeth, and, Hey! Whaddyaknow! They showed up, bright and early this morning, with renewed interest in finishing the job.

Oh, yeah. The bitch is back. In all honesty? She never left...

* What do you think about sprinkler systems? Are they worth it? Here, in Utah, we receive nearly all of our annual moisture in the form of snow during winter. But, we didn't get any snow this year. I'm still on the fence as to the bennies of a sprinkler system, though it is set up so I can still be a water miser. I will say I'm pretty excited about having more free time to ride horses.

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Uppa Downa Season

It froze last night. 27 degrees per the outdoor thermometer I installed so I could torture myself with hard, cold facts.

Killed a whole bunch o' my bitsy baby seedlings. Including the Tiny Tim Heirloom Tomatoes, who were shivering under a blanket. And, making short work of my latest endeavor, the Surprise! It's a Big Ass Pumpkin!

Pumpkins, plural, actually. These 300 pound bruisers were destined for great things as summer biking season rolled on.

Thanks to heaps of new home construction, my country cottage now sits on a busy thoroughfare. Cars, cyclists, dogs with and without owners, plus dedicated speed walkers in all shapes and sizes.

To be clear, I have hated this change in venue. I can't ever have a moment to myself in those street gardens. But, I came up with this grand idea to plant a curiosity out there... giant pumpkins. Who, over the course of our summer, would grow to magnificent proportions. When people strolled by, they'd see the progression, from tiny to huge. All summer long, growing bigger and bigger. So big that come Halloween we'd be carving them where they rested ~ because nobody, save for the Incredible Hulk, could hoist them into a wheelbarrow.

Wouldn't that have been the coolest thing?

Ah well, onward and upward. I've no one to blame but myself. We do not appear to be having any type of predictable seasons. Just the uppa downa routine of extreme weather patterns. Two days ago, I was tugging at my weeds and melting from the heat. Now the furnace is blasting away.

I think the hardest part of this new normal is how dramatically the times of our growing season (if you can call it that) have changed. Toasty warm in November. Flowers blooming. Blasts of winter in June. RIP Pumpkins.

Is it just me? Or, is this summer totally messed up? 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

* Feel like planting a show stopper? Pick up some Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin seeds. In order to grow them in the mountains, start them indoors 60 days prior to planting. These big dudes need a long growing season, in order to strut their stuff.

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Pretty in Pink

 Stargazer Lilies are lovin' some sunshine.

 There’s this old saying, “make hay while the sun shines,” but what’s an impatient gardener to do when it’s been raining cats and dogs? Every day! For 6 long weeks?

Getting Lilies (top photo) & Tulips to bloom at the same time is oh-so-easy!

Plant Lilies indoors, in the depths of winter. Quick cure for cabin fever. :)

During the soggy month of May, I took an opposite approach to that old saying, by starting a full-on veggie garden, by seed, in my sunny window.

With those little darlings screaming for more wiggle room, I devoted the whole, blissful weekend to happily transplanting enough vegetables to feed an army, come harvest.

Drifts of Wild Phlox carpet the pasture area of our property.

That is.. IF they survive. Given our bee-zarre weather patterns, it might too early to throw my precious little seedlings to the wolves.

Mother Nature, no doubt, has one more trick up her sleeve. But, I couldn’t wait a moment longer.

I not only want it to be summer. I need it to be summer! It’s just downright nutty that I should have my furnace running in June!

Last summer's Hot Cha Cha Geraniums are still growing strong. 

They flowered, indoors, all winter. (Thanks, Amy!)

So, let's say a prayer. Light a candle. And, cross our fingers that this glorious weather will hold.

* Veggie seedlings don't make the most interesting pictures so here's some of the pink pretties gracing the garden today. This is what I squished into the raised beds:

• Golden Beets
• Chioggia Beets
• Romanesque Cauliflower
• Walla Walla Sweet Onions
• Radicchio Rosso
• Sadie’s Horse Beans
• Pinto Beans
• Luca and Fariolo Italian Beans
• Scarlet Nantes and Parisian Carrots

Monday's Walk in the Garden

Bearded Iris

Bellflowers

Dainty Bleeding Hearts

First Geum Blossoms

Mom's Wild Roses

Fragrant Lilacs

Sweet Honeysuckles

Plus one very happy little hummingbird. )

I'm too worn out from weeding to have much to say. But, the joint is looking so pretty I just had to show it off! Happy Monday.

Wordless Wednesday: Megan's Morning Shower

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The Tiresome Trifecta with a Totally Tasty Plan B

Thunder, lightening, drenching rain.

This trifecta can only mean one thing ~ it must be Memorial Weekend!

Like clockwork, every year, the teasing warmth of an early summer disappears at the precise moment I start dusting off the camping gear.

I've been prowling the nurseries. Drooling over the new flowers they have to offer.

But, I leave my purse in the car so as not to be too tempted too early.

And, I keep my big mouth shut when strolling past the happy lines of optimistic shoppers, scooping up cheery flowering baskets, tender annuals ~ giddy over the great weather we've been having.

I do not utter a word about how they're jumping the gun and Mother Nature has one more trick up her sleeve.

Because, nobody likes it when you rain on their parade. Including me.

So, I'm working on a Totally Tasty Plan B ~ Dry Rub Ribs for this Ultra Iffy Memorial Day BBQ. These cook better in the oven than they do on the grill.

* First, baste the ribs with 3 tbs fresh roasted garlic (those jars you buy in the supermarket) and 2 tbs spicy brown mustard. Then sprinkle the dry ingredients onto the ribs. Bake @ 300 for 2-3 hours. This recipe is good for 3 pounds of ribs.

Dry Rub Ribs

• 2 tbs roasted, ground cumin
• 2 tbs dark brown sugar
• 2 tbs smoked paprika
• 2 tbs onion powder
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tbs salt and 2 tbs pepper (or let your guests handle this when you're done cooking)

Have you ever wondered why BBQ joints 

feature dancing piggies in their logos?

If I were the piggy, I'd be making a quick exit from this party.