Another indoor week

As if the hot weather is not enough to send one scurrying indoors, this week we have had to contend with poor air quality, thanks to some wildfires. Today offered a break from the bad air and it was supposed to be "only" 85 degrees out, so I slaved away a bit in the "meadow", clearing out some weeds and mulching the coneflowers. The temp actually reached 90(!), and I could not help but think, "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun...."

Joe pye

Even with a large yard to draw me outside, I sometimes don't take time to look around. This week I've witnessed Mama Hawk teaching her two youngsters to hunt, hummingbirds visiting the fuschia, a monarch amidst the milkweed, possible fox or coyote scat in the front lawn. I just have to pay attention.

'Golden Tiara' hosta

I have ordered a couple of landscape designs in my lifetime. Recently it occurred to me that the designs show the plantings from a birdseye view, and not how the plantings will look to a person standing nearby. For example, the shrubs and trees in the backyard provide a variety of greens and visual textures, but they need something more, some other colors. Ditto the natives planted in the front of the house - pretty when they bloom in the spring, otherwise a lot of green that also looks kind of weedy.

Begonia

After the last go-round with the landscape, I told my SO that if this does not work out, I'm putting everything back into lawn. But I'm not doing that, obviously. I keep making changes instead, mostly additions.

Sunbathing

Because what would I do with myself if I didn't have the yard?

More plants

First, my son and daughter-in-law came to visit with this planter. She works at a garden center, so they always bring something nice for my yard. The colors even work with my front porch.

Later in the week, I visited Stuckey's, a local greenhouse that carries the usual. This year I decided to go with a yellow cherry tomato.

'Sunsugar' cherry tomato

They carry a few natives, so I grabbed some butterfly weed. It never does well in my clay soil, so I'm going to put it in the raised coneflower bed. And cross my fingers.

Asclepias tuberosa, a.k.a. Butterfly weed

I don't know much about begonias, but thought it might be a good choice for the flamingo planter. Once in the planter, I realized I should have gone with the pink instead of the orange. Oh, well.

Begonia hiemalis 'Carneval orange/yellow'

One thing I could not find was pineapple sage. Disappointed. Stuckey's has a second greenhouse on the other side of town, so I may give that a try.

Despite the weather, I managed to get the ninebark into the ground as well as the clematis. The trailing snapdragon is nestled into a pot with 'Cat's Pajamas' catmint which blooms only in the spring. I had plans to work in the yard all weekend, but it's raining. Again.