Needing Color

This is the neglected part of my garden. 

Every year.

There are flowers that bloom early in spring, such as the violets, columbine, my flowering almond, flowering quince, basket of gold alysum, tulips, and daffodils. Later the delphinium, lilies and the ever present cat mint.

But summer color? 

Green. More Green.

Found something to change that!

When I saw the pots of chrysanthemums at the local discount store, I knew I needed to bring some home. Now I believe I need more-after I pull out more grass and my black kitty moves on. Can you spot her next to my shovel? I was surprised that she remained still while I tried to take pictures. I guess wild kitties are only wild as long as I don't try to touch them!

Hope your days are filled with color!

♥♫

"Haying"

The monsoon rains made the grass grow. A lot.  I had to "windrow" the lawn clippings with a garden rake. I usually just let the mower mulch them as I cut the grass. But there was an abundance of grass this time!

There were nine piles like this in the front yard. 

Now I have some clippings to cover a spot for a new garden in the back. 

Raking the grass reminded me of a story about my dad when he was little. He fell off the hay rake, broke his arm and had to wait until the end of the day to go into town to see the doctor. After breaking my arm several summers ago, I can NOT imagine the pain he suffered all day long. I'm sure that rake was pulled by a horse or a team of them, just so you know how long ago that really was!

I found this on the web and have no idea who is in the picture, but you can see what a hay rake looked like. Not any safety features on this.

Have good weekend doing whatever it is that you enjoy! And stay safe.

♥♫

Outside

After lunch in Brush, the crew and I found another Barn Quilt at the lumber yard!  When it is cooler I should spend some time searching for more Barn Quilts in the eastern part of our county.

This one is outside on of one of the buildings at Ackley Building Center where the large pieces of lumber are protected from the elements. The colors are perfect with our blue skies and the red siding with the white trim on the huge shed.

♥♫

Inside

When I went to my local Benjamin Moore store I looked up on the wall and saw THIS! 

A Barn Quilt. 

This one has black lines drawn with a straight edge and permanent marker so each small "piece" is defined and creates a finer look, in my opinion. I was told it was intended to be for a garden fence, but "oops", the painter didn't use outside paint.  I think it is perfect inside the Fort Morgan Paint Bucket!

♥♫

Sweet Phlox

The phlox  have been blooming and scenting the air with their sweet fragrance. This was an original plant from several years ago.

These below are volunteers in a slightly different pink, because the new plants are not true to the original color.

The white phlox are "David", the only name I remember.

The pink ones in the middle were the first to open and are now on their second set of flowers. The rain helps clean off the spent blossoms so no deadheading is needed.

There are some lighter pink ones that will add their beauty to my front flower bed soon. Hope that your summer days are full of sunshine and flowers.

♥♫

The Faeries

This winged creature was delivered by my O.D.S. Short for Other Daughter Sarah, aka Sarah Josephine. She is the younger of the two Sarahs and came into my life about 7 years ago when she started her teaching career in Wiggins. This fairy was a retirement surprise and now is about the time I will begin to really feel retired while everyone is going back to school.

This is NOT a faerie, but is the No. 1 suspect in the falling window box case.

This little sweetheart has a new pot to rest in because I took out the pansies yesterday and put in some new miniature plants.

Watch out for the faeries dancing in the garden during August as I've heard it is their favorite month.

♥♫