After the Rain

The greenhouse, which sits behind our garage and adjacent to the back lawn where the drying whirly (for drying clothes) is located, got no attention this year and so the foxgloves figured it was vacant and moved in. They are absolutely amazing this year. We have them all over the garden. I can't bear to treat them like weeds and pull them up because I love them so much.


Between the holiday and the rain, we didn't get much gardening done during the month of May other than cutting the grass. Now that the rain has stopped, even though it's still quite overcast, there is much to be done--and even more weeds! Yesterday I worked for a couple of hours out in the very back garden, the little area where we have a "wrought iron" table and two chairs. Behind the old fence is a wall of fir trees which belongs to our neighbour on the left side (looking toward the back). Billy Swanson, who does heavy gardening for her, cut as much off the firs as he could reach but the boughs that overhang our garden are our problem and rightly so. Yesterday I cut down everything I could reach which came to two big loads for Donald to take to the skip. I must finish the job on a ladder, which isn't likely to be today.

I also spent quite a bit of time dead-heading the rhododendron which sits in the middle of this little bit of garden. It had finished blooming and was starting to look really tatty with all its blossoms turning brown. After dead-heading, I pruned it back and then took the manual hedge trimmers to the yellow-green fir tree that grows beside it so that both plants had light and air around them. There was much clean-up from those two jobs!

In the second photo above, you can see the new fence with the gorgeous red-orange poppies beside it. This is the one we put up after our neighbour on our right took down her fir trees. Until we get some climbers well established, I'm afraid this fence is going to look quite bare. At least it's a good-looking bare fence!

Work has been coming right along on the "transportation quilt" I'm making for the grandson of a fellow book group member. I have just 2 blocks left to quilt and then can turn my attention to quilting the sashing and the borders. I must deliver it to her by the weekend and should be able to do that.

Don is playing golf with the Comrie Seniors as he does every Tuesday morning. Yesterday he and Gordon played. They also played on Sunday morning and came home sopping wet! Ah, there's nothing like dedication to the game.