Is it Friday already?

My how the summer weeks fly by!  I noticed that I have only posted 3 times this month and it is already the 15th.

Though much of the country is baking in sweltering heat we barely make it to 70 degrees this past week and even the San Joaquin Valley is at least 10 degrees below average for this time of year.  I was in Stockton today and it was perfect for running about.   I made a fast trip as I had things I needed to do here and only ran down for a big Costco stock up trip. 

I have caught up on all the custom orders for signs and I have been focusing on listing on eBay all of the saleable clutter I have been going through and trying to eliminate from this house.  Much has been cleared out but I still have quite the pile on one end of our living room and I have some major reorganizing to do in the studio.  I need to build myself a ladder that attaches to one wall so I can access the loft easier to store things.  And along with getting that all accomplished I need to paint up signs to restock my website, I have sold quite a few the past couple of weeks so pickens are getting slim. Here is the last special order sign I had to get out this past week, it is double sided..





I wanted to also share some more of my garden flowers.  My Petal Pusher roses are a favorite, the luscious pink is drool worthy and they are loaded with blooms.



This next rose was my very first David Austin English rose, Graham Thomas, I had spotted it at Home Depot in the bare root bin for $2 about 5 years ago, before that I did not know how the English Roses would fare in our mountain climate but it thrived.  I was sold on English Roses from then on.



This is another English Rose.  This is Tess D’Ubervilles.   This particular one is a start from a cane.  I inadvertently covered a cane that had fallen over with compost as I was amending the soil, and a new rose sprouted from it.  This one has not gotten very big yet but it sure wants to bloom. 



I had a rose also start from a cane I had cut off my Sharifa Asma English rose, tossed on the ground and covered with some compost in the Fall. I have to say that is what comes from soil that has been composted yearly, it is so rich that things just root on their own!

My Crazy Daisys are beginning to open, one is super frilly.

Day before yesterday..



Today





My regular Daisies are beginning to show their happy faces as well.



One of my Clematis is blooming, this one is called Warsaw Nike.  It bloomed the very first year I had planted it.  Then it was accidentally yanked from the ground by a “helpful” husband who did not distinguish it from the weeds he was pulling.  I quickly replanted it and hoped for the best, and sure enough here it is blooming away again!



The moral of the story is, if you want to get a clematis that performs well above the call of duty invest in Warsaw Nike.  I got mine online on eBay.  The gal is great and usually has a great selection, her eBay handle is birdsongfarm*wi

My Asiatic Lilies are just starting to pop adding a touch of orange to the beds. 



The gaillardia are another tough one that comes back thicker every year.



I will do a full flower bed shot so you can see all these beauties together.  Maybe in the morning, right now I am too lazy to peel my body from this mattress to do it now though it looks like the perfect light outside for great photographs…hmmm, I might get motivated enough to do it.

Until next time…

My website