My SIL came down from Seymour this morning and brought me some tomato plants that I set out. The ones I had bought earlier had developed what looked like blight or maybe all the cool weather they didn't like.

Double pink poppies and annual larkspur has joined the daylilies, geraniums and other perennials blooming now. I love the poppies and larkspur and they reseed back each year.

We sure do need some rain--I am getting some brown patches in my lawn---a sure sign of needing rain here in Missouri. Hope we get some later in the week as I have some new plantings that I am watering.

Daylilies sp. fulva, Purple Waters, Pink Embers, Splendid Touch bloomed today---daylilies are just getting started and most seem late compared to what was in bloom this time last year.

Susy

It's dry here too. I'm only watering what I have to though. Our hay is cut but not baled so it can wait a day or two to rain I guess so it won't get wet. I got the yard mowed today and sneezed my way around. I think it's just the hay at this stage. It seems like the first cutting always bothers me the most for some reason.
I'm soaking melon seeds again. I only have five left of the first batch I planted. We were gone for a few days and when I got back, they were leafless little stubs. I'm sure the tops had been bitten off by rabbits. grrrr

Blooming for me right now:

Dianthus - a couple kinds
red valerian
salvia greggii and May Night
oakleaf hydragea is just starting to bloom
ninebark Diablo - has reddish flowers but they aren't very showy against the burgundy foliage. Still pretty though.
Gray dogwood is finishing up already I think
Foxglove - I got a single plant in a trade a couple years ago and it has reseeded in different colors. Very pretty!
Mophead hydrangea - a old fashioned start from my parents house is just starting to bloom
Coral Bells
Most of my iris are done but I do have one clump of a dark purple one that's beautiful right now
roses
That looks like a lot when I list it, but my yard is actually kind of blah right now. Everything is just small and they're mostly things I only have one of.

The little bit of honeysuckle that I sprayed with Round-Up last year in our fencerow has now grown into a big scary beast. I could smell it when I was mowing though. Maybe I'll wait a couple weeks before I try to tame it with Round-Up again. : )

{{gwi:1112435}}

American pillar rose dangling over wall above picnic area. Other things in bloom are :Indian blanket, pink primrose, blue bedder salvia, petunia, heliotrope, hollyhock. Had a hard rain during the night. Birds active. EP

Took flowers to church Sat.-torch lilies,purple campanula "odessa",orange lilies,purple and white siberian?iris,pink spirea"anthony waterer",Solomons seal,a few pink calla lilies,pink old fashioned roses and some perennial sweet william.They were beautiful!Now if God will bless us with some rain.It is so dry!We pruned a huge old mock orange.I have worked too hard on other things than gardening this week!Have been watering a little.Our well isn't too great.Posy Pet

well, i resisted putting in my 2 cents long enough. posy, you can prune my 2 huge mock oranges next, if you want. i started pruning my wisteria several days ago-something came up, and i've never got back to it. its so very hot and dry here, our county had the driest may in history, dont sound well for the gardens, mulch, mulch, guys. thankfully, we do have a deep well.
my bantam chicks came in 5:30 am tuesday, never saw such lively guys(and girls) they literally started running races out of the box.one is sickly, but getting good advice on another forum, so i'm keeping it going. ordered 25 and got 28. got to get their house ready--90 chicks in my dining room is driving me crazi-er!
gldno, your post on another forum could be worse--about the frogs? my daughter is plagued with 'possum's in her master bathroom.not only here in missouri, but also when she lived in texas. and not only in the house she lives in now--but the last 2!!some people have mice-she has these, couple days ago, she had a armidillo under her deck, we told her the possums had taken to wearing armour. somehow, she dont think its funny.
have to take my daughter-in law to houston today, since son is working,finally
is everyone else like me? always too much to do to really enjoy what you have? flowers are beautiful, but-instead of seeing how pretty they are, i'm thinking i need to water them, and can i get more mulch on the pots on the back deck?
hubby says i try to do too much, but since he cant, i dont seem to find a stopping place, guess if the good LORD dont take me till i'm done, i'll live forever. lol every one take life easy--and pray for rain.

It's still so dry here too. It rained all around us over the weekend but we didn't get it. I guess it's a good thing since we own a convenience store on Greer's Ferry Lake and it was a big weekend for us with campers and lake goers.

So far I've had 7 different daylilies bloom besides the stellas which are all in bloom right now. I have zinnias, daisies, hardy geraniums, roses, dianthus, coreopsis, and verbena also blooming. Some of the lilies are getting ready to burst any minute and I can't wait. I've got a lot of new ones this year that I'm anxious to see.

I planted about 25 different dahlias and about 3/4 of them are up. Every day another one or two pops up. I've only had a few before so they will be exciting to see too.

We can really do with a rain and tomorrow would be a great day for here since another weekend on the lake is coming up starting tomorrow after everyone gets off work. Please Lord! ;-)

Nancy

First shastas open today. Harvested lavender and boysenberries. Beautiful day. EP

I find it very interesting that even though several of us are in the same zone, our bloom times are very different.

For instance, EP, my shastas don't even have buds yet!

Nancy, I sure hope we get some rain. Our May went down as the second driest in history.

Even though I am watering, things are not looking that lush green I like. I picked strawberries yesterday and froze maybe 6 quarts. There will be a few more but not many! I am watering the patch this evening. I found out the coreless berry is the Dunlap. I wouldn't choose them again.

I had to replant pole beans and water them, still not up. Corn is about 4 inchs tall, tomatoes about 14-16 inches. Broccoli will need to be harvested tomorrow morning. I probably could get some new potatoes, haven't tried yet.

We had company yesterday and today, so didn't get much done outside. I will have to double-time it tomorrow to make up.

Dahlia question to Nancy: Can you leave them in the ground in Zone 7? I always want to plant some, but I know I will leave them in the ground and loose them, so have never done it. They are beautiful. I may try the seed-grown ones next year.

Well, no more frogs so far, but the skunks are Back!!! I posted this problem earlier on the Farm Forum. Those rascals have dug a hole about 18" out from the foundation about 6x6 inches straight down. I guess they tunneled under the house. We have been getting the smell inside again, so have reset the trap close to the hole hoping to catch them. Then I will place a large concrete block over the hole. What is wrong with these crazy things? I think we have caught two already this year.

All for now.

GD

Hope some of you are luckier than we are right now---chances of rain have passed us by!!

I keep putting things in the ground and in pots knowing that I will have to water since it looks pretty droughty here. Went by Lowe's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart while in Springfield Wednesday. Bought a Niobe clematis (dark red) at Lowe's, white impatiens at Home Depot and a variegated lantana at the Rogersville nursery.

I planted some hyacinth beans last week and just a few have come up---may be due to the seed being too old. I love the purplish bean and flowers on the vines and they usually grow really fast. Hope these do well so I can have seed for next year.

GD, hope you get rid of the skunks. We were sitting at Wal-Mart last night and could smell skunks--there are woods and a housing area nearby.

Been taking youngest daughter to Spfd. to doctors. She had surgery for two ruptured discs--got the staples out Wednesday. Doing pretty well now--they want her to walk, walk, walk! DH had an ultrasound Thursday and will be having a colonoscopy and cat scan next week---doctor time around here!

Need to go eat my breakfast, do some pruning, weeding and mulching before it gets so hot.

Susy

As Susy said, it's dry, dry and drier. Predicted rain never did show up, and I figured it wouldn't, so had watered nearly everything yesterday and finished this morning.
DH eliminated a raccoon on the back deck the other night trying to get into the can we keep dog food in. Next night it was a possum and he, too, went by by. Sure glad it wasn't skunk, don't envy you GD, your varmints. lol
I just can't believe that every time they predict a dab of rain, it manages to miss us.
Better go get busy, have to hang out a load of clothes and see if that will bring any rain. If not, then maybe I need to break down and wash my truck, that should do it. lol
Donna

predicting rain again tonight--everyone went camping this weekend but us (they leave the "old folk" to do their chores,) lol now, if anyone gets rain, it will be them down by the river.
sometimes dahlias will overwinter in the ground here--sis had one make it about 5 years, but when she bragged about it, she lost it.since i lost most of the ones i dug last year, i might have done better leaving in the ground. two years ago, i grew some from seed, but last year they didnt grow.
potatoes are blooming now, tomatoes in the garden doing ok, havent watered them yet, mulched heavy, but ones in pots on the deck are having to be watered every other day, as are the flowers there. green beans growing, but, i'm beginning to wonder if it's just the early crops that are going to amount to anything.
dosent sound good for hay either, we buy each year for our 3 horses, more field ornaments than anything!
still trying to get chicken house made over, wish i could build from scratch, but anything to get them moved!!lost the tiny bantam i'd been trying to save this morning, still have 27 left from the 25 i ordered. and 70 of the brown-egg layers.
try to stay cool, everyone.

Good morning....no rain for us still.

We loaded the trailer with bales of straw and my goal this week is to cover the entire garden with it! I may even try the Ruth Stout method of never tilling again.

EP, I don't how I missed commenting our your beautiful picnic area! The rose is magnificent. Everything looks wonderful. I don't know how you do it....I thought once we sold the cows, that I would be able to keep up easily. Not so!

Blooming now: Coreopsis (short and tall); lavender, LA lilies, some hesperis and lunaria, a few roses, larkspur, Huster's Red penstemon, armeria, gaillardia; I think I am lacking in the early summer area!

I think my grass mowing is over for now except in the areas where I water the garden and flowers.

I finally got my first new potatoes, Pontiacs. The ground was very dry even though I thought I had soaked it a few days earlier.

We set up a bird bath a few days ago and finally they have discovered it. Yesterday the mockingbirds, red-wing blackbirds and white-crowned sparrows had some fun!

I guess my orioles have left me for good. I did hate to see them go.

This is DH's rehab day, so I plan to get out early and spread some straw; and, of course, water.

Ceresone, I envy you the chickens! My goal is to retrofit one of our buildings for chickens this fall and order next spring. I would like to build a new chicken house too, but just can't justify it with all the buildings that are already here. Keep us informed on how things are going. I will need to pick your brain when I get mine. It has been 20 years since I had them.

My skunk issue seems to have resolved itself. We finally crawled behind the Yew tree (which I am going to cut down!) and covered the hole. So far, no noises coming from under the house and no more smell and no varmints in the trap. Who knows what happened.............

Well, DH is leaving and I am headed outside before the sun pops out.

GD