Windy and Cold.

6-22-22 VERMONT: For several days it’s been cold and windy with 30 mph gusts. There have been brief showers, with less than a half inch of rain, and everything is dry, even though today was rainy. The upper pond is down a foot and showing muddy banks. The lower pond is down an inch or two. I saw a very small turtle, shell the size of a silver dollar, sunning on the ledge for an afternoon, so that means at least two turtles in the pond.  

Daytime temps are in the sixties, and it drops into the fifties at night. We have built fires every evening, and are hoping for some summer weather.

I have pruned, weeded, watered and found lots of chores to do. A visit to Brown’s Nursery resulted in a bunch of work planting new stuff. I have been using the pond bank for new beds, it gets full sun. The problem is the grass and wild flowers and weeds that grow there are so thick and dense that any new plant doesn’t have a chance to survive. Unless, I dig out what’s there down to six or eight inches, fill the hole with potting soil and plant in that new bed. I can re-use some of the turf, but most of it gets chucked.

I made a cluster of three beds on the bank near the big apple tree. First I planted seven perennial poppies, Papaver orientale, two ‘Royal Wedding’, two ‘Beauty of Livermore’, and one each of ‘Princess Victoria Louise’, ‘Prince of Orange’ and ‘Pizzicato’. Three of them have seed pods not yet ripe, they were all post flowering for this year. I may supplement the bed with more seeds. The second bed has two Lobelia cardinalis, cardinal flower. That bed is close to the water, lobelia like wet feet. The last bed has one Baptisia, ‘Plum Rosy’. I also planted two small Monarda, ‘Rockin Raspberry’, one in the bed below the deck and one in the north chimney bed. Those two were much easier, I just plugged them into existing beds. My mid-eighties work style is dig a little, rest a little, dig a little, rest more—it’s slow going. 

New blooms: bishops weed, water lily, sweet William, diablo.

 

It's peony season, the cold weather may slow them down, but they still bloom.

A darker pink.

Bright red. These are all double flowers. The single flowers are just starting.

The roses that grow on the fence are almost at peak. The pond is in front and two barns are in the pasture beyond the fence.

Eastern Phoebe, named for its call, has raised a nestful on the light bulb fixture by the wood shed. It's sheltered from the rain and wind, but works better when we're not here. There are plenty of bugs for her to catch for the brood and herself.