Seed pods...looking forward to next spring

One of our favorite splashes of color in the backyard garden is the Butterfly Weed. (See below.) It's not something we planted, and we suspect the seed came in with some of the good farm dirt we brought in when we were first planting our gardens. Each year the orange blooms have spread a bit and this year we had Butterfly Weed in at least two different spots along the fence. Now that it's finished blooming, we're enjoying the interesting look of the seed pods (and hoping that as they burst open, each seed finds a good home right here in our garden!)

Oh, what a beautiful morning!

August 28 and in spite of predicted triple digits again this week, for now it's a cool 72 degrees and the skies are just gorgeous!

The roses are back

The roses have made a comeback here at the end of August and are far prettier than they were earlier this year when it was so hot. The Carefree Delight wild roses are having a new life too. It's nice to see a few things flourishing after a summer where many of our plants really took a beating from the 47 triple-digit days Kansas has suffered this summer.

Sundae's kingdom

We are down to one cat in our yard now, but Sundae thinks she's the queen of the castle. We were worried how she would fare after we lost Frosty because they were such good buddies, but Sundae has become a much friendlier cat recently. (Sundae's momma, Biscuit, is a stray who bore us 9 kittens and then abandoned us! Biscuit still stops in for a visit now and then, but we don't know where she's living, and she's not telling.) If we dare to go outside without giving Sundae some serious love and praise, she bats at our pant legs as we're heading back in. It's pretty cute and pretty hard to resist. Here, she surveys her kingdom from a perch atop the arbor.

 

Sweet potato vine: UPDATE

Not even 48 hours later and there are already 1/4-inch roots on the sweet potato cuttings! I'll keep you posted once they are thick with roots to see if they can be planted that way. Stay tuned...

Sweet potato vine!

Earlier this spring I shared the photo at left of our flower cart plantings. I was excited because the sweet potato tubers I'd saved from last year had sprouted and were beginning to produce a vine. Well! Just look how that turned out! I've actually had to trim it back a little. My pansies lasted clear into July, but finally between the extreme heat and the drought, they gave up the ghost and I replaced them with small geraniums. But the coleus and this wonderful sweet potato vine are the stars of the show. I'm definitely saving those tubers for next year. (That's another vine you see taking over the pot behind the cart near the steps.) I'm declaring this a huge success!

More rain!

We are so very grateful for the rain we've gotten recently! As you can see from the rain gauge, we got another inch overnight. No wind, not much lightning or thunder. . .just a wonderful, gentle, refreshing rain. Thank you, Lord!

Perking up!

The garden is really perking up, thanks to the rains we had recently. It was a pretty sorry sight for a few weeks. So glad to see the results of the quenching rains.

A new blush of roses

The Carefree Delight roses are blooming again after going into hiding before we finally got our rain. The gardens have really taken a beating in this extreme heat, but they are responding to the rain beautifully, and hopefully, we'll have some prettier views this fall.

Finally! Rain!

After one full month with nary a drop, we finally got our rain on August 3. Two-and-a-half inches of the stuff, if our new rain gauge can be trusted. And this morning, August 6, we got more. Haven't checked the rain gauge yet, but it rained pretty good for a while. Thank you, Lord!

Summer sunset

Even though it's too hot to enjoy them for very long, we've had some beautiful sunsets these past few days of July and August. But oh, oh, in a heartbeat, we'd trade the most beautiful sunset ever created for a few rainclouds. 

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore

No, it's not our Kansas prairie garden, but I sure wish it was! This is the view along a stretch of Iowa highway we traveled last week to visit our newest little granddaughter. Isn't it beautiful? (Our granddaughter is, too! All 7 pounds, 10 ounces of her! Like how I sneaked that in?)

Finding a spot of cool

Poor Sundae has trouble staying cool with that thick fur coat she wears. She's shed more of her coat than usual this year, but she still has to stretch out in whatever shady patch she can find to beat the triple digit temperatures we've had this summer. As July comes to a close, we're hoping for an unseasonably cool August! And we're still praying for rain!

Ivy covered tower. . .well, ivy covered shed

The sprigs of ivy we planted beside the shed have taken hold beyond our wildest expectations. I would cover the entire house with it if the head honcho gardener would let me. As it is, this little pathway between the house and the shed is as close to a secret garden as I have. If we didn't need someplace to store the lawnmower and rakes and shovels, I'd clean out the shed and hang some pretty curtains in the window and turn it into my own little hideaway.

Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus)

The Rose of Sharon bushes are loaded with buds, but really feeling the affects of the extreme heat.

Oh, that these were rainclouds

... but alas, they were not. Our well and sprinkler system are the only reason we have green grass and anything blooming at all. Like so many around us, we desperately need rain.

Back by popular demand: coneflowers!

The coneflowers are beautiful right now. In spite of our hot temps and lack of rain, this clump in front of the rock wall is thriving among the false sunflowers.

Taming the Sedum

This week we pulled out all the spent blooms in the sedum on the flagstone patio.
This is what it looked like all over the patio a few weeks ago. Pretty, but too overgrown now. I like the look of the new "haircut" and tamed patio much better now.

Different Perspectives

I've gotten in a rut of photographing the gardens from the same spots, so I'm trying to think of new perspectives (while still keeping neighbors' homes, the electric meter and the BBQ grill out of the shots). This is the first view we have when we come out onto the deck.

Twilight

The evenings have been cool enough that we can enjoy the west-facing deck again after sunset. We added twinkle lights under the railing and a lantern on the post. Add a few fireflies to the mix and it's altogether magical in the evenings at dusk. (If you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see the orange-and-white blur who also enjoys evenings in the yard with us.)