Mid-Summer Slips By.

7-23-17 VERMONT: Lots of news to relate—the hybrid daylilies are opening in many colors and shape variation, and I’ll show a few. After three days of 90° heat, during which we mostly huddled in front of the fans, yesterday delivered almost twenty four hours of steady rain, about a half inch. The Wedding pix are out and can be seen at this link. https://twoofusphotography.passgallery.com/-annaandgardnerswedding/gallery

The dogs were fine at the kennel, and since they have been home, Gus is getting a CBD for arthritis and seems to be improved and is more active. I have been doing some watering, before yesterday, but today nobody seems thirsty.

Spoiler alert. Goldenrod is open, the last full month of summer is about to happen.

New blooms: echinacea, pink filipendula, tiger lily, hybrid daylilies, white rose mallow, Queen Anne’s lace, goldenrod.


Gus looking very 'Lion King'ish in the tall grass.

Echinacea, it's definitely mid-summer.

Tiger lily in pink.

Astilbe in candy colors.

Hybrid daylily.

Asclepias incarnata, a milkweed, is waiting for the monarchs.

Judy took a few pix trying to get the big 'picture'. I think she succeeded.

That's Kaley next to Brady the horse.

There's a lot of color here, but the green dominates.

If you thought it was only mid-summer, the golden rod has started.

Another hybrid daylily.

A couple scenes from Anna's and Gardner's Wedding above and below. Here's a link to many more-https://twoofusphotography.passgallery.com/-annaandgardnerswedding/gallery

Quebec, Canada.

7-17-19 QUÉBEC CITY, QUÉBEC, CANADA: We came north yesterday, an easy 3.5 hour drive to the Chateau Frontenac, a mountain top castle/hotel on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River. We have traveled here before to break up the summer in VT and for a taste of city life, France and great food. The Upper Valley is truthfully a food desert by comparison.

Yesterday, we ate at Restaurant Initiale, a fav where we get the tasting menu with the wine pairings, one of us, for a great, great meal. Tonight we ate at Laurie Raphaël, another astounding meal. Both restaurants are down a steep hill from the hotel, but we walked down and back up both nights.

Today we walked up hill to the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec [MNBAQ] for a Miró show and a bit more. We had brunch on the Grande Allée Est on the way. Afterwards we went to the old city below the mountain by the river for touring and shopping. Judy got a sweater and I got a T-shirt. Québec is awash in gardens and flower beds, flags and street shows, fairs and festivals.

Tomorrow we head back to VT to pick up the doggies.


Your carriage awaits outside the Chateau Frontenac.

Walking up Grande Allée Est to the MNBAQ.

At the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec the big summer show was Miró.

My fav Miró, a lizard?

Elsewhere at MNBAQ, an 18th century giraffe and painting.

Plaza outside the Frontenac featuring Champlain and the arena for the performers, mostly jugglers with patter.

The lower city bustling with shops and restairants.

Umbrellas above and below.

Birthday Trip.

7-15-19 VERMONT: It’s Judy’s birthday and we’re off to Quebec City tomorrow for a couple days of hotel and restaurant living.

Today I did minor repairs to the steps from the terrace to the pond, which had become treacherous, especially when wet. The steps that sloped downward were jacked up with new rocks to make them less tricky. I also watered the new plantings and the deck veggies.

Yesterday I did more pruning on the apple trees by the fence.

New blooms: evening primrose, oxeye, foxglove, yellow daylily.


An obliging dragonfly-a twelve spotted skimmer, perhaps because it has twelve dark spots.

A monarch female, we saw three monarchs today, soon it'll be time to check for caterpillars.

Daylilies reflected in the pond.

Delphinium with vibrant color.

Water lily flowers.

Hybrid, yellow daylily.

Gus walked the whole pasture today.

Approaching Mid-Summer.

7-12-19 VERMONT: The dry spell continued until yesterday when several waves of rain came through, dumping 0.3 inches without flashes or bangs. I had started to water the day before because some stuff was wilting.

I pruned another apple tree and dumped another cartload of prunings.

I am now able to drill holes in granite, a skill that I’m sure I’ll need again. The house number is now attached to the granite post, and I added another number sign and put it on the maple in front of the old house.

The milkweed in the pasture is in bloom and butterflies are there. I saw fritillaries, swallowtails, sulfurs, a monarch, and lots of skippers.

New blooms: rosebay rhododendron, rose mallow, monarda, hydrangea, summer azalea.


Fawn makes an appearance on a rainy, dark night. Maybe being weaned to grass.

Monarch butterfly, I have seen one, but there are probably a few.

Rose mallow.

Obedient plant. It seems happy in the spot, but we'll see if it's back next year.

Fritillary butterfly on the recently opened milkweed, you can smell it from twenty yards away.

Bee balm, monarda, is a fav of the hummers, as well as the bees.

Mid-Summer.

7-8-19 VERMONT: It’s like a totally different weather pattern, now it’s hot and dry, while before, in spring, it was cold and wet. Another few days like this, and I’ll be watering the gardens all day.

I went sailing with Ken at Lake Mascoma yesterday. He has an O’Day sloop on a mooring at a yacht club there. The two of us were stumbling around in the day-sailor, dealing with stiff hips, knees, shoulders, ankles. It would have been hard if there had been any real wind.

I was back in the upper terrace bed a few days ago and planted two pulmonaria, P. saccarata ‘Mrs. Moon’, in a shady spot, two foam flowers, Tiarella cordifolia ‘Brandywine’. Before planting there, I dig up the area that I just weeded and turn the soil over and discard all the weed roots I can find. I also added two primroses to the primrose/lady slipper bed, Primula ‘Estens Candelabra’.

A visitor said she couldn’t find a house number, so I checked and the sign was obscured by vegetation. I took it off the tree stump that it was on and will move it to a granite post by the driveway. Right now it is up temporarily until I drill holes in the granite.

Today I pruned three apple trees and produced two cartloads of cuttings that went on the dump. We have been eating Sun Gold tomatoes every day from the potted plants on the deck. The special herbs are growing well. We had pesto from our basil a few dinners back.

New blooms: campanula, filipendula, lychnis, false indigo, astilbe, hosta.


Remember the possible fox from a few weeks ago? Here he is in red and black.

Ghostly deer in the evening in night time camera mode.

Campanula ia open as the mid-summer rush is on.

Lychnis, also called Maltese Cross, reminds me of Campbell Soup cans.

Daisy, classic flower shape.

Astilbe pond-side survivor of about eight I planted in this area.

Maizie samples the pond.

Doldrums Setting In.

7-5-19 VERMONT: It has turned into summer with high temps in the eighties and no rain for several days. I didn’t do much of anything on the holiday. We watched the Macy’s fireworks on TV rather than a local live show.

We had a nice dinner with Ann and Roger at Candela on the third.

Judy is collecting stuffed animals again from folks in the Upper Valley for her work with the kids in Newark, NJ. We have already gotten a bedroom full.

New blooms: goats beard, daylily, dianthus, red spirea, delphinium.


I like these peonies better than the doubles. They are the last to open here.

The roses on the fence in full bloom in reflected glory.

Closer view.

If the daylilies are open, it must be July. First one.

The solitary turkey is considering a job as a blue heron.

Just Me and Judy Left Here.

7-2-19 VERMONT: Joey is back home, his flight was delayed almost an hour because the plane was late getting to Logan. We did catch up with Maggie after the plane took off, and took her to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Harvard Square. The Sunday T-storms mostly missed us, and we got a big welcome from the dogs when we finally got home. Thanks to Janet for feeding them dinner.

Today I planted the two coral bells, Heuchera, that were surplus wedding plants from Alison. They sat by the pasture gate during the ceremony. Fortunately they tolerate dryness pretty well. I did water them while they waited around for me to get them planted.

I put them in the upper north terrace bed, which is a weedy mess. I cleared about half of it and planted them near, but not under, the apple tree. I had previously put an obedient plant there and added a second that I moved from the bed below the deck. Last year I had put a hardy hibiscus there among the ferns and iris. I dug out big areas of the bed before the planting to get rid of grass and weed roots. I hope to slowly rehab that area.

The game cam caught lots of deer, as usual, and a smallish black bear in the back pasture.

New blooms: water lily, baptisia, valerian, daisy.


Game cam picked up a visitor a week before the wedding, probably a yearling because she/he seems small.

Big peony.

First water lilies are pink, white ones come out later.

The red peonies get a bit less sun and so open after the others.

White Admiral, ventral surface, on valerian, which is very aromatic and held its attention for a long time.

White admiral, dorsal surface, still on valerian.

Rose-breasted grosbeak considerately holding his pose.

Turkey in the pasture. Usually they travel in flocks. It's unusual to see a solitary bird.

Lots of deer caught by the game cam, in the same area as the bear, on the night before the wedding.