Kathleen's Korner at TheStidhams.com

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.

Yesterday was lovely. Spent most of it working on a scarf for mother’s friend who is retiring this weekend. My parents took us all out to dinner, and though the weather was quite rainy most of the day it wasn’t bad. Even able to open the doors by late afternoon.

A small wren flew into the house just before the boys all got home while I was changing out of my art clothes. Poor dear little creature! It was so small it managed to get behind the piano. Finally, I managed to get him and escort him outside. He just sat on my hand for a while before flying off. He wasn’t hurt at all, just a little scared… I don’t think he’ll come inside again.

So for my birthday it was quiet, and nice.