Rain is Like a Butterfly

The more you chase it, the more it will elude you.

After reading my comments on my last post, I chuckled.   Many people were confused and confounded as to why I would haul my potted stuff inside when a storm is on the horizon.  My answer to this is simple.

I'm a Control Freak. 

Indian Summer rudbeckias everywhere, but mildew is taking a toll.

When the rest of my dust-bowl garden is starting to go downhill at a rapid rate, I can at least control the moisture levels in the pots and protect them from flying ice cubes should Mother Nature see fit to fling them in my general direction.   My potted plants are the only thing I can protect and monitor, fuss over and fertilize, dead-head and preen in this uncertain gardening world.  They are my pampered pets. 

In dry years, like this one, the only dependable color we'll have are the pots. 

 So, that's why I have such a bizarre tendency to coddle my potted plants.  I'm just silly. 

And I didn't do a very good job protecting them on Monday.  Yesterday was such a bizarre day.  I have a doctor's appointment for a physical coming up on Friday.  The 13th.  Ah, that bodes well, doesn't it?  I'm not superstitious (much) but many of you know my history with the medical community hasn't always been fun. I had to run to the Big City by 8:45 AM to have blood drawn for lab work.  Traffic is not my forte' at all and I so dislike city driving that I was tense to begin with and hadn't slept well the night before.  I made it to and fro with no incidents, thank goodness, and with a bit of time to spare for exercise class.  We'll see how Friday goes when I get the results of the labs. 

Four dump truck loads of black dirt also arrived yesterday which was exciting.  I tried to find good places for the truck driver to dump all the dirt that would make less work for him and us.  No new gardens are on the horizon at the moment, in case you're wondering.  We're trying to downsize, remember?  But it's always good to have topsoil waiting in the wings.  Like a spare car in the garage.  You never know when you might need it. 

But back to the rain ........I find myself simply obsessed.  I'm Rain Crazy.  I swear these storms are just playing head games with me.  Yesterday afternoon the sky grew very dark and there were grumblings and rumblings to our north.  I watched it on radar and it was headed right for us.  We had a garden walk to go to last night about 40 miles south of us and I had to walk the dogs before we could leave.  The dogs and I headed out to the Back Eight to watch this storm approach.  It looked so promising (and I had left my potted plants out for Bait!)   But suddenly, the wind picked up and the doggies and I had to run back to the house as fast as we could.

I put the dogs inside and since Carl wasn't quite ready to leave yet, I told him I was going to take the car out back and watch the storm come in.  That's right, I wanted to enjoy every drip of rain and be in the middle of it.  I drove down our lane and sat out in the Eight watching the clouds form over the woods and watched the cornfield and the white pines whip around in the wind. And the dust.

The wind shook my car as I sat and watched the rain take a turn for the east.  And the south. 

Once again, so close and yet so far.  I got grumpy and drove out of our field and down the road to the next mile where it was raining a little.  At least I got the dust off the windshield.  I made a U-turn on the corner and came back home to sunshine and my driveway pots lying in the driveway.  The wind tipped them off the plant stands very effectively.  So much for bait.  They do a great job attracting wind, however.

We drove to the garden walk and followed the storm all the way.  The hosts of the garden received a much-needed, beneficial rain on their beautiful garden.  There were actually puddles after the storm.  Puddles.  We haven't seen puddles since May.  Oh, well, better luck next time.

I've been watering the rest of the garden very sparingly.  The lilies and the hostas are looking  surprisingly quite well yet, but I suspect it has something to do with the 4+ inches of mulch we put down this spring.  There's still some dampness in the soil when I dig down a bit.  We did get a very light misting drizzle for about fifteen minutes on Sunday, but not enough to even settle the dust this time.

The pictures look refreshing though, don't they, with the rain drops hanging on the needles of the pine?

The tall lilies are putting on such a show and their fragrance is everywhere.

The incredible shrinking Quarry Pond is not a pretty sight, but the rudbeckias are going nuts on the hills.  So is the powdery mildew, unfortunately, so I'll be pulling many of them out very soon.  They're self-seeders though, so I don't work very hard for their bountiful blooms.

We did some pruning on the big Scotch pine a few weeks ago and removed many of the lower limbs.  It took some getting used to after we were done, but at least the other trees will have some more light and the hostas seem ok with it.

The Quarry Hill looks tired.

No, those aren't raindrops, just leftover drips from the sprinkler. 

More rudbeckias on the hill we call 'Thing One'. 

The Pachyberm 

I'm going to have to move some of the plants I have on the Pachyberm.  Last year when we took out the perennial bed in the Formal Garden, I moved all the plants I wanted to save to this site.  Now it's rather congested and the heights of the plants need some tweaking.  Alot of tweaking.

Fresh Look celosias are sulking this year

Persian Ruby daylily

Huge flowers....wish they lasted longer than a day.

More Pachyberm and front lawn

Hosta bed on other side of the yard

Hosta 'Liberty' shows up well in front of the big rocks.  Rocks do help hold moisture, too.

These lilies are taking a nap on the stone wall. 

 In case you're wondering about Castle Aaargh.........we're cutting stone again!  But with the hot weather, it's really tough to stand in the full sun and work.  You can just see a glimpse of Aaargh through the gate above.

So, like the saying about happiness and butterflies being elusive, I just have to forgeddaboutthe rain.

I simply need to turn my attention to other things.

Now, where did I leave that soaker hose?