Rainy Garden

We have had rain for the last five days in a row.  When it's not pouring, it's drizzling but sometimes there's a few hours of 'drought'.   Earlier in the evening there was a slight lull in the activity so I took advantage of the nearly dry lawn to head out and mow the backyard.  Everywhere else in the yard is far too squishy.

This was the only stretch I was able to mow before it started to pour yet again.  The River Bed is finally starting to show some color other than the pine needle mulch that we put down a few weeks ago. 

I took these pictures this afternoon in a lull of the rain activity, but that didn't last long.  The water lilies are really enjoying this weather, though.  We often have problems with the water levels in the quarry pond going too low in the summer, but not this year!

 Just as I started taking pictures, it started to rain again.

  I never knew 'May Night' salvia would be so prolific, but it readily self-seeded itself in the sandy soil by our campfire ring.

Joel detests the smell of the foliage when it's disturbed, but I kinda like it.  I like the color, too!

It started to rain harder, so I started to take pictures faster.  Sedum is climbing up the hill by the quarry at a rapid rate (along with a bunch of tiny weeds which also like the rainy weather).  I will have plenty to do when it dries up.  Weed pails will be lined up by the dozen.

Though some of the plants aren't liking this wet weather and lack of sunshine, there are some that think it's just fine.

The hostas..........

This is hosta 'Blue Umbrellas' and it's definitely living up to its name.  If I could fit under there, I wouldn't be getting wet.

We had, at one time, over 500 different cultivars of hostas in the gardens.

Over time, we've lost a few.  I used to have name tags on every single one, but since many of these hostas have been moved time and again over the years, a great many name tags have been lost, too.

 I'm just amazed at how much they have grown in the last few days.

They're crowding the footpath through the garden.  We had moved these all into the new woodland bed about three years ago and there was plenty of room between most of them.  Something tells me we'll be doing some dividing in the near future.

That's a lotsa hosta.

Hosta 'Choo Choo Train'

Alternating border of H. 'Gold Standard' & 'Halcyon'.  One nice thing about using hostas for border edging is they do a great job of keeping their own weeds down and I don't have to edge every bed.  The lawnmower's deck fits right under their leaves.

Hosta 'Striptease' showing off in the rain.

I finally wandered out of the woodland bed once the rain eased up a bit.  

The lilies are reaching amazing heights this year too, I hope no hail comes to wreck them before bloomtime.  I don't know which one this is, I bought it from a big box store.  We'll find out in a few weeks.

There's some more of that tufa wall we moved last year.  Wandering up to the front of the house, I stood under the willow until the breeze caused huge water drops to hit me in the noggin.

Here's the front bed:

The Knockout roses are really starting now, but I got around to putting the systemic fertilizer on a little late.  Something's been having a good time chewing on them.

Such a weird year; I've got daffodil foliage standing yet amidst hostas and roses with pinks and a hardy geranium blooming in the background.  (No, I didn't get around to braiding all my daffodil foliage, either.  I'm just kidding, I've never braided the foliage on my daffs...I'm guilty of either whacking them down or stepping them over and putting mulch on them most years.) 

The front garden is a mix of sun and shade at various times of the day, so I have everything from soup to nuts planted in here.  

Roses and hostas (and bugs, too, by the looks of the leaves!)

Here are five pots of various types of trailing petunias I started from seed this year sitting on top of the fenceposts.  They have really begun to fill out this last week.  This is a hard location for them, though, since they are subjected to a lot of wind at times.  We found the fenceposts in the landfill several years ago and the other day a neighbor dropped off some more old ones he didn't want...I was happy to take them off his hands.  As soon as I get a few more, we can put up another little fence somewhere.  (We have never bought any fence posts yet, lol.)

This little statue is my favorite one; we bought it right after David was born 21 years ago.  It is very near the lily, I think it's 'Enchantment'--that always blooms just before Joel & Dave's birthdays.  I remember being in early labor with Joel and walking through the garden that fine June day in 1986 and noticing the orange lily starting to open.  I was so happy to see the first lily of the season before I had to leave for the hospital and now twenty-five years later, the memory still brings a smile to my face.

The years have flown by, the 'boys' are no longer little and I'm no Spring Chicken, either.  

The sun's supposed to shine tomorrow.  That's good.  We'll take it after five days of gloom. 

I need to get back on my knees and pull some weeds.  It's just been too wet and miserable in the garden to do much of anything outside. 

If this rain keeps up, the only plants that will be happy will be the ones in the raised beds.

On second thought, gardening in really tall planters would be a whole lot easier on the knees, too.

How many fenceposts do we have lying around??  Hmmmmmm......

I'm linking this post to Tootsie's Fertilizer Friday.  Please check out the beautiful blooms to be found there!