Saturday morning I spied something moving in the garden.

Something black, and white, and it wasn’t a cat.

Yes, the skunk had returned, and now he was inside the electric fence.  The fence was working well.

Although, from the wrong side.  The poor little guy just could not escape.

He looked frantically for any way out, but he met that fence at every turn.  And he wouldn’t come near it.

Even when I unplugged the fence, he was already quite well trained, and did not attempt a getaway.

I actually thought he had got out when he disappeared, and I picked beans, and flowers, and tomatoes later in the day.

But that evening, there he was again.

(Yes, that’s the messy weedy corner of the garden)

Apparently he had never left, and slept soundly under the gourd leaves when I was in the garden with him.

How would we ever get him out of there?

Unfortunately, there was really only one answer.

But I’ll leave it to your imagination.

 

Over the years I’ve collected quite a few succulents.

These are such interesting plants.

This one is fuzzy with brown tips.  (Panda Plant  – Kalanchoe tomentosa)

This one is so smooth;  you want to reach out and touch it.

These are not winter hardy.  I move them all indoors during the cold months.

They tend to get very leggy in the house, and drop a lot of  their fleshy leaves.

This fall I want to trim them and do some propagating so I have some new ones for next summer.

You know you live in the country when….

you find bags of horse manure for sale by the side of the road.

You know, I don’t even know what to say about this, except maybe I should pick some up.

Apparently, I can even get it delivered.

 

There are so many amazing day lilies to enjoy.

  

Every year I look forward to all the varieties of colour.

This is one my favourites.

So ruffled and pretty.

They got enough rain this year, but maybe not enough sun.  Some plants that were in shadier spots didn’t bother to bloom at all.

Be sure to have a few day lilies in your garden.  The colour choice is almost anything except blue, and they are easy care,  reliable plants.

I received one of these plants for my birthday this year.

They are called Red Birds in a Tree or Scrophularia macrantha.

(Let’s stick with Red Birds in a Tree.)

I bought two more plants to have a grouping of them.

They have done really well in regular sandy soil, in full sun.

Small little blooms, but lots of them.  Best to have more than one plant.

Once they started blooming, they haven’t quit.  Hummingbirds love them, and they are a hardy perennial in zones 4-9.

There’s so many new kinds of plants to discover; I’m glad to have these Red Birds in a Tree!

The pond is always popular with our frog friends.

This morning there were 4 big ones sunning on the rocks.

They are all really different coloured too.

This one has no spots.

This one has really random spots.

They like to sit in the grass at the edge of the pond, so I nearly stepped on this guy!

He jumped into the water and came out the other side.

Those eyes are so amazing!

Life in abundance in the pond.

 

The snapdragons and asters are really doing well this summer.

I grow  a flat of each, just for fresh cut flowers all season.

The rocket snaps love all the rain, and the plants are tall and strong.

The white flowers are Queen of Africa (Ammi Majus).  They are like a fancy wild carrot that is good for a bouquet filler.

It does well in the vase, but then starts dropping all little seeds.  Not sure I’ll grow it again.

The shorter asters are all coming along nicely now.  These are all grown from seed and are especially for cutting too.

The taller asters are just beginning to start blooms.

All pinks and purples.  The blue ageratum is a taller variety also started from seed.

It is such a pleasure to have fresh cut flowers in the house every day!  And lots more to share!

I am getting a lot of earwig damage this year.

I think the earwigs are plentiful.

Of course, you never see them during the day.

Only the evidence of their presence.

So I looked online for some solutions to the problem.

I gathered some shallow, small containers like this tuna can.

Put about 1/4 ” of vegetable oil in it.

I set the container right in a few pots, and here and there where I thought earwigs were eating the plants.

And this is what I got.

WARNING: The following scene may  be disturbing to some viewers.

 

 

On a regular basis, this container is full of dead earwigs.

It really worked!  And no chemicals.

 

So we had some excitement around here this afternoon.

My good husband was pruning some suckers and branches from various trees.

He was working on this tree.

He didn’t know what was just inches from his head.

Apparently, he bothered the occupants enough that they came after him.

He got stung several times, trying to outrun them.

A few minutes later, he wasn’t looking too good, nor feeling too good.  So off to the Emergency ward at the hospital.

It was definitely an allergic reaction, so we were thankful for drugs and medical attention.

A couple of hours later, I took him home, and he could sleep for a bit.

Poor guy.  He hasn’t been allergic to previous stings so this is a new reality for us.

Now we will have to keep an Epipen on hand.

And somehow we have to get rid of that wasp nest.

Any volunteers?

 

 

 

I bought a Clivia plant in late winter.  It was just ending its bloom,

but I bought it anyway, because it will bloom again next year.

I put it outside on the deck.  North light, but not in direct hot sunlight.

On June 27th, I noticed this!

It was going to bloom again!

(With a bite chewed out of it already.)

See the chewing marks all around that flower?

We left for holidays when it looked like this, so I was worried I might miss the show.

But the blooms lasted for a few weeks.

Just this week they are starting to drop.

Anyway, as I wasn’t expecting any blooms for a long while, it was a blooming bonus!