State of confusion

For some reason, I thought Brood X was about locusts, not cicadas. Neither are apparent in my yard, but I think of cicadas as an August phenomenon. I have seen some butterflies: a monarch, a swallowtail, and the ubiquitous paper whites.

A good old fashioned thunderstorm woke me yesterday morning, pausing my watering activities for a while. More rain is expected off and on for the next several days. It is HUMID. The temps are supposed to be more temperate this coming week, so I hope to do more weeding.

Now that the raised beds are gone, my SO is helping me with some heavy pruning. We whacked most of the purple leaf sandcherry in the front yard, as it was failing, but left several suckers to see if the shrub will regenerate itself. We were surprised to find fruit on the plant. It *is* called a sandCHERRY, but I don't recall ever seeing the cherries before. They are the same color as the leaves, so very well camoflaged.

We also removed several base limbs from the blackhaw viburnum, as it was infringing on the arborvitae next to it. Next up are the arrowwood viburnum on the other side of the backyard.

My indoor/outdoor cat Finn loves to sharpen his claws on the pergola posts, to the point it looks like he might take them down in a few years. I wrapped them in hardware cloth for protection, hoping Finn does not resort to nearby tree trunks. There are several indoor scratching posts, so he is not being deprived.

I invested some time in clearing off the detritus that has accumulated on the deck, in preparation for actually cleaning it. A table I rescued from the side of the road a few years ago needs some repair, but serves its purpose of providing an outdoor surface for starting seedlings, etc. The straw in the dog house needed refreshing, not that the dogs use it but Finn does when he stays out all night (something I discourage).

The yucca have sent up stalks and are blooming, as are some of the hostas. Stellas and Bettys are still going at it, as are the hollyhocks and yarrow. The smoke bushes are smokin'. I was wrong about 'Golden Spirit' not producing "smoke", but it isn't nearly as striking as the purple leaf variety. I see the 'Avant-garde' clematis is starting up.

I've been trying to grow grass in some of the bare spots in the backyard. The shady patch near the deck is doing fine, but the sunny area where the raised beds were is not. Initially, I protected both areas with random pieces of poultry netting and hardware cloth, to keep the dogs from churning up the dirt. Now I've sandwiched straw between the ground and the fencing, to see if that helps, adding more grass seed. The variety I chose is labeled as "Sun & Shade Mix"; the package claims it "GROWS IN EXTREME CONDITIONS INCLUDING FULL SUN AND DENSE SHADE" (emphasis by Scotts). It's also supposed to aggressively spread and thicken. We'll see about that.