Kathleen's Korner at TheStidhams.com

I wasn’t able to write last night — got some kind of nasty bug in the afternoon and it really laid me out flat.  I am still tired, but wanted to give my report.

The elderberries are almost all eaten. As predicted, the flickers and other birds truly have enjoyed them.  The dahlias began to bloom on the 20th, we have the bright yellow and one purple already!  The peaches all fell off the one tree that wasn’t damaged by curl this year, so no peaches will be in our yard this year; but we should get a good (though small) crop of plums.  The cherries are starting to get ripe, but I am afraid the birds are getting to them just as they are almost sweet…

But the strawberries, raspberries and the trailing blackberries are coming in and they are delicious.

The roses all look so lovely — and sweetwilliams, poppies, and various wildflowers are all over again.

It has been pleasant weather the last couple days, and the forecast is for warm and sunny for the foreseeable future.  We are ready for it now!  🙂

And the children came home for the summer today, the bus dropped them off at the end of the driveway and Lucky waited to meet them.  An excellent start to our garden season.

The red elderberries are almost ripe! they are just gorgeous! already the flickers are beginning to light on the branches… in a few days, the trees will grow wings and take flight. And then the foliage will be visible again!

The ceanothus plant right next to them is just lovely! a lovely grapy-purply-blue. And the dahlias finally have buds on them. The rose from my parents’ house is settling in nicely, though I still need (and want) to weed that bed also.

I did manage to plant the cukes and most of the 18 tomatoes we bought on Sunday, still need to figure out where I want to put the squash and pumpkins! And of course the onions are doing well, though getting a bit crowded by some over-vigorous blackberries and such. I am not sure how much of the garlic has survived… hope most of it did. I really would like fresh for some of our cooking!

The chestnuts are just covered in flowers — never knew what they looked like before, but the are interesting. Not as flashy as some nut trees, but fun. The absence of the one peach tree is noticeable to me, but I don’t think it’s bothering the boys or T. The nectarine appears to be recovering! Keep your fingers crossed!

The invasive groundcover still needs to be pulled and is about to overtake that entire part of the yard. I am so disgusted. Maybe I can get out there later today and knock it back a little.

And the pretty flowers around the yard. We still have a few iris, and some of the other flowers are beginning to bloom. Another few weeks and we’ll have a whole new set of blooms to discuss.

The weather has been more seasonable — a bit more humid than I like, but not overly warm, and somewhat overcast the last few days which is nice. The raspberries and strawberries are starting to ripen — a bit more sunshine would sweeten them up.

And that’s the garden update for the moment! May all your beds be loamy and deep!

So many things are blooming right now!

The roses are all healthy and lovely. The dahlias are getting tall. I finally cut down the tree that had peach leaf curl so badly, and pruned back the other one hard. The lilacs are done for the year, but the irises are up all over the yard. Some of the plantings by the house are so exuberant this year that I am thinking I’ll need to divide and thin for the first time! and the chestnut trees are begining to get some real height on them.

The grass needs perpetual mowing, but when it is neatly trimmed, the rest of the yard looks pretty decent! It is exciting each year to see progress and know that both the planned events and the unplanned are working together nicely to create a real landscape.