Hot

66°f/about 19°C. Mostly clear, breezy. Heavy rain and thunderstorms yesterday evening and during the night.

Interspersing this post with random flower pics today. A new tulip for us this year 

87°f expected today! This is ridiculous. And then next week it is supposed to be down to 29°, again. I think we will scrape through without frost damage,  as we are higher up and the cold usually settles in the hollers.  But you never know...all the fruit trees are in bloom, or have already dropped their blossoms.  Everything is greening up and leafing out much too fast, thanks to the little hear waves we've had and are having right now. 

Late daffodils

And lush! Oh my goodness. The weeds are springing up like crazy, plants that normally don't show their faces until mid-April are up, the tulips are blooming and fading just as fast because it's just too hot. I know that we who garden are rarely satisfied with the weather, but this year I think we have just cause to complain. Mother Nature and her hot flashes,  grrrr. 

...and a late crocus, blooming despite being dog-trampled

We spent the day working outside yesterday, getting another 22 bags of mulch down, with 8 in the truck. I am not sure itgoing to help with weed control this year though, as the weeds seem to have come through winter I fine fertile and are thriving. Indeed, everything looks like it's had a big dose of nitrogen, which I suppose it has as snow is said to bring that to the soil. 

Hellebores are still going strong, and I noticed several new plants this year.

Even with the weird weather and the weeds, it is just so incredibly beautiful right now, like an impressionist painting. This morning's sun on the rain drenched grass made it look like a fairy land. Then there is this full moon that is making the night as bright as day. Such richness.

Little Montmorency cherry tree we planted last spring is in full bloom.

Speaking of richness, we have been cleaning out the chicken coop. Stinky! But lots of great garden fertilizer. I wanted this done soon because we gave to wait a month before we can till and plant where this manure is spread---it's "hot" manure, very strong in nitrogen which can burn up plants. Rabbit manure, on the other hand, can be used right up against them with no harm. Larry has procrastinated so long about getting this job done that I finally started on it myself yesterday, and made a good dent before rain and hail soaked ne to the skin, and lightning sent me indoors. I paid for it last night with miserable shoulder pain, but at least it got Larry motivated and he's finishing the job as I write this. 

These deep purple tulips are some of the few I have that return every year. These have been coming back for at least 15 years. They don't spread much, and the blooms are smaller than when I first planted them.

As for me, I got the hydrangeas and roses cut back this morning, and that's about it for me outside, until this evening when it cools down. I have plenty to do in the house, because I tend to neglect it once the outside work starts. I just don't want to come in when it's lovely like it has been the past few days. But today's heat will keep me in, for sure. Windows are open and the fans are going so it should stay fairly comfortable. 

These tulips were planted 3 years ago. They're so pretty, but so floppy. What am I doing wrong? Several of my tulips are like this.

I contacted a solar energy company today, called Solar Holler. They will install a system for no money down, so I am curious to see how much it will cost us monthly, if it's even feasible in our location. Sarah's system works quite well for her, so I am hopeful. If it's not much more than our current monthly bill, I would like to go for it. It's funny, but in the 70s I was really into solar energy and even tried to design our house to use passive solar energy, and built a solar food dryer and solar cold frames for growing lettuce and greens under glass, using stones as the frame. My ex wasn't as interested as I was, so I dropped the idea of building solar panels for the house. But today, solar has gone mainstream, just like brown rice, yogurt, yoga and all the other "hippie" stuff. I guess we were just ahead of the curve.

A new tulip this year, and it just wants to flop over too. But so pretty!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.