Before the Heat...

As Spring rolled over into June, before the heat and drought set in in full force, plants and bulbs, and a late winter planting of onions and beets, that somehow survived the hard Easter freeze, along with many plants Lynne had wintersown and planted into containers, began to show their color and beauty.



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This hydrangea, which during the freeze had lost all it's new growth, surprised us with an overabundance of blossoms. With the initial growth killed off, all the secondary flowers were much smaller, but much more numerous than if the plant had bloomed under normal weather.

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One of Lynne's favorite flowers (yes, she is partial to many) is the Lily. Any color, any variety. Here's several from her various collections.











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Here's some of the containers from Lynne's winter sowing.




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With school out for summer, we were able to have the grandsons on several days, days they didn't have summer camp or sports going on. John, of course, and sometimes Andrew, are both still fascinated with the pond, and watch for frogs and 'stuff' they might see. Most every visit, they would catch lizards or dip some tadpoles from the pond, and sometimes take them home with them.



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The end of the month, and the family got together once again up at Ruth's family's home for a combination birthday party for Mom and their oldest daughter. Mom turned 92 on July 2nd, and their daughter's birthday was the over the weekend, so it was easier to get everyone together at once.
Lynne and I, along with our friend Alli, were returning from a weekend in Charlotte, where we meet up every year with a great group of internet friends. While we were gone, our niece Tracy and our daughter Dawn looked after Mom. For now, late June and this gathering of friends is our only extended time away, and just like Ruth coming down once a week to spend time with Mom and give us a couple hours off together, Tracy and Dawn helping us out on this one weekend a year means the world to us, and because of Tracy's travel plans, we also had time to actually enjoy some time with her as well when we got back. Here's some pics from the party. Naturally, our granddaughter Celeste showed up in quite a few, as did Mom, for some reason :)










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Some shots from the yard, as this entry comes to a close. If you look close, in each of the birdfeeder pictures, you can see a bright blue bird. These aren't Bluebirds, though! We've been fortunate enough to have THREE different Blue birds visit Heartland Gardens. In the Gazebo feeder in the first picture, is an Indigo Bunting. and in the 2nd picture, Mom's feeders show the bright yellow Goldfinch on the left feeder, and a Blue Grosebeak on the feeder to the right.





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As always, the cats say HI... and we'll be back with many more pictures shortly :-)