Choice Morsels

I bought a 2-root pack of Cinnamon Fern many years ago, but apparently one of the roots was not Cinnamon Fern, but...this instead. There are zillions of types of fern and this seems to have a fern-like structure. Regardless, it comes up faithfully every year and I like it. I might be Holly Fern. Some of the older leaf stems at the back look similar to photos of Holly Fern.  

 It is soooo hot out right now! In recent days I've waited until 7pm to mow and then only a section at a time; 20-30 minutes max.  Today I rehung my Chickadee nesting house. I had it inside, gluing a portal protector on to keep the Downy Woodpeckers from drilling on the entry. Come fall, I plan on getting a Downy nest box, so they can have their own space, though I've read they primarily want a cool weather roost. And I pick up a few sticks tossed about by recent thunderstorms. It's that rainy time of year with nearly daily storms. I have plenty of firewood now for when the weather cools off. I've read we're expecting an "arctic summer," though here that may be 88 next week instead of 98, but anything is better. Garden Photos Today: Limelight 4 O'Clocks: Really this color. Bright lime leaves with magenta flowers. There's a story about these: I bought it as seed once, but never have more. I had one and saved seed from it and got 2 with the second mo...

 Things That Bring Me Joy One is my cat, Tawny, sitting on my lap for a nap while sitting in the easy chair watching a episode of a series, like Murder She Wrote. I'll often watching a second episode, just to go on enjoying her sleeping and purring on my legs!  The other Joy this week is my flower garden: This photo was taken yesterday looking across the top of my front flower bed. There are actually beds and borders all around my house .

Today's Garden Pics are various Eastern Box Turtle friends that visit my yard: I caught this shot one rainy day last week: This block path runs along the South wall bed. Actually it channels water away from my front door to my back yard and this Boxie girl was very intently toddling her way down it to my back yard. I happen to know she is female--but only because it's mating season and well, that's helped me identify who's male and who's female. This one has already mated. Interesting fact : a female box turtle can lay fertile eggs from one mating session for the next 4 years! And she is completely able to choose when she's ready to lay. Also the temperature at the time eggs are laid determines whether the hatchings are all male or all female! This shot is one of my regular visitors enjoying a cooling soak in my "birdbath" dish. They like to get in on a hot day for 15 or 20 minutes. This Boxie has albino face markings and he's been hanging around m...

  My first car waa a baby blue 1978 Ford Pinto Hatchback, 4-speed standard transmission just like this. I bought it after I got out of the Air Force and returned home to Indiana. It was 1980 and I was planning on going to college. I saw it advertised for sale by an individual in the local paper. Price was great and it was in great condition. It got 45 miles to the galleon on the highway--which actually puts modern, lighter gasoline burning vehicles to shame, considering that blue body was all metal. Heavy, too--on a good downward hill in neutral it could coast 50-60 miles an hour flat out.  It took me to college the next years and was our primary vehicle after husband and I got married for another year or so. I looking back, I regret we didn't keep it after we bought a new car. It would've been smarter to have kept it. 

As the sun edges downward on the horizon, it's last rays strike the garden flowers beautifully! Native Daylilies   Red Salvia

 I was disappointed today because the Lawn/Landscape company I'd made an appointment with for this morning a week ago and he randomly didn't show up. I was quite disgruntled. I had to get up an hour earlier then usual to be ready for a no show. Not even a call. So, I called a different Lawn/Landscape company I'd gotten reply from on Nextdoor and he sounded more professional.  What I want is to lessen the work-load on myself by having a professionals hedge 3 front shrubs, do a general weed eating along driveway, walkway & various edged beds and, most importantly, remove the 2 large Pampas Grass in front yard.   I'd like to plant Plumbagos in their stead, which is a blue flowering shrub common here, which is also easy to maintain. Today's Garden Pic is a nice shot of one of my Cheers Daffodils. These are the most faithful Daffodils, showing up every year more numerous then the year before. They're clusters of small double white Daffodils on each stem that smel...