Drizmal Days

Another weekend is over.  It was a busy one, too.  On Friday, we all helped Joel celebrate his 25th birthday.  (Where did that time go?)  At least he didn't set off the smoke detectors when he blew out the candles, not like when we celebrate my birthday.  For Mom's birthday, we're going to just buy some number candles  (91 candles would really cause a blaze, plus Mom said she prefers to eat her cake with a nice frosting that is not encased in wax.)

We've been having a few days of rain again, so not much is getting done in the gardens.  We did work all day Saturday on transplanting flowers from the Formal Garden for our downsizing attempt.   That project is really proving to be a long drawn-out process especially since everything is so wet.  Oh, well, my late father always used to quote, 'The creeks have to run in June or we'll have a dry summer."    So far, I'd say we're not in any danger of a dry summer.

Yesterday when we were working on the transplanting process, I was kinda down about the garden.  I don't know if this ever happens to other gardeners, but I suspect it does...you just get to feeling what you've created is blah.  You see everything that is wrong with it.  Every weed, every crooked rock, every chewed up leaf, everything that needs doing.  And this time of year, everything that needs doing is overwhelming with a Capital O.  Sometimes we feel we have created a monster, a garden that owns us, not the other way around.  We worked until dark on Saturday and put all the tools away when a slow, steady drizzle started. A fitting end to a 'drizmal' day.

Just as we were wrapping things up, Richard & Emily and their adorable toddler, Courtney stopped in for a visit.  Carl had such a good time with Courtney 'exploring textures' in the popcorn bowl.  According to Carl, Courtney was searching for just 'the right' shape of popcorn morsel. 

Pudding Dog had a good time reaping the benefits of the Textural Exploration.  (And yes, there's that old floor of ours again...looks better with popcorn covering it.)

Sunday morning dawned and along with it, another steady, straight down rain.  We decided to take the day off and headed out for a ride with Joel.  Sometimes just getting away from the mess at home is the best remedy for a case of the blahs. As we drove through the countryside we saw some beautiful, picturesque places, homes with beautiful gardens and wild, open spaces.  There is nothing I love better than farm and woodland views.  Carl said he really enjoyed his Father's Day, too. 

We got home right around dark and I went out for a little stroll through the gardens with the camera.  Something about being gone for the afternoon changed my perspective on our projects here.  It was too dark to take really good pictures, but that's ok, because this way I didn't see as much of the work that needs doing.

It just looks better different when the light isn't so bright.  I couldn't see that the pan fountain could use a cleaning.

And a few of my annuals are finally starting to show some color.  (Can't quite see how badly the beds needs edging in this light.)

Our little Horstmann's Silberlocke fir tree is putting on an amazing show with it's new cones and the reverse curved needles. 

Love those cones.

I couldn't see any weeds to pull in the Woodland Bed, either.

Looks like a big ol' Quilt O' Hostas, doesn't it?  They really did grow this year after all the rain.

'Baby Blue Eyes' spruce really shows up with a flash at night especially when the needles are wet.  I had to be careful here, this one is planted right on the edge of the quarry, I didn't want to go for a swim.

The light was fading, so some of the pictures I took with a flash and some without, which really makes for a different effect. 

Last weekend, Carl decided to try pruning one of our white pines in the Quarry to look more open.  Well, the result was a little unsettling, but we'll see how it turns out.  The tree might just give up and die from sheer embarrassment or it might survive; we hope it does, anyway.  The picture above was taken without a flash, and below is one with a flash.  (We really aren't trying to torture our trees, we're just trying to 'train' them...the problem is, we're the ones who need the training.)  Joel was mortified when he saw the end result.  I avert my eyes when I walk past it, too, poor thing.  At least we didn't try to make a poodle tree out of it.

 

Here's our Bosnian Pine out on the point rock down in the pond...this one was planted when the Quarry was first built in 2002. (We don't prune this one, it's safe from experimentation, plus it has the sharpest needles of any pine I've ever encountered-- I think it should have been named Porcu-Pine)

 The flash caught something reflecting back at me.  Of course, it's Screech, following me around like usual.

The Dry River Bed looks a whole lot better in the dark but I really do need to do something with the golden moneywort climbing all over. 

Looks like I polished the waterlily leaves, they sure are shiny.

Never mind that I wish I'd never been given the yellow flag iris and that it's an invasive and tough to get rid of...it is pretty when it blooms.   Whenever someone tells you, 'Oh, do I have a plant for you!  You couldn't kill this one if you tried!" beware!  Someone brought this iris over as a gift years ago and it looked so sad and wilted, I laid it in the pond to recover.  Soon after, it rooted.  Well, guess what?  It really, really, really loves where it is now and we've been trying to curb it's enthusiasm every year.  We do deadhead it regularly, though, because the seedlings sprout up everywhere.)

In the dark I can't tell that the gate could use some paint touch-up work.

Finally the last lingering light faded and the camera kept flashing 'Subject Too Dark'.  It was time to go in.   I was feeling a little better about the gardens after my stroll.

Between remembering my doctor's advice to quit gardening and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work to do, it was a bit depressing around here lately.

But to quit gardening entirely is a Subject Much Too Dark to entertain.

I think my next garden tours will be conducted after dark. 


The garden looks much better then.

(Well, MOST of it looks better, anyway!)