Let the Summer Begin.

6-18-08 VERMONT: Judy and I arrived yesterday afternoon to cool weather and showers. There was 1.75 inches of rain in the gauge which was enough to keep all the new plants from getting thirsty while we were away. As usual there were problems. Someone, Dan[?], Anna[?], Alison[?], left the hall lights on in the old house. The pilot light was out in the old house hot water heater, a circuit breaker was tripped in the new house, and a power strip in the media cabinet was blown.

The gardens look pretty good, if I say so myself, but today I pruned, weeded, planted sun flower seedlings in various gaps in the gardens and along the south side of the small barn. I culled the corn and pumpkin seedlings and re-planted the hills that didn’t germinate.

The horses are here. So far the dogs are tolerant of them this year, even Chloe. We went to an Eaton auction for a couple hours and bought an old atlas of Orange County, Vermont.

I had to make a list to remember everything in bloom: azalea, stephanandra, weglea, burning bush, Wentworth viburnum, all the roses, diablo, white spirea, lilac, solomon seal, columbine, forget-me-not, pulmonaria, rhubarb, lamium, jacobs ladder, daisy, geranium, meadow rue, all the iris, rodgersia, cranes bill, all the bleeding hearts, mountain bluet, apricot day lily, valerian, celandine, baptisia, poppy, buttercup, red and white clover, yellow pimpernel, jill-over-the-ground, thyme, basil, dill and, today, peony.


Poppy, and only a couple days late for Father's Day.