The quiet time of August?- August 7, 2016

I have been trying to get out to the garden this week to start work at or right before six. Sunrise is a little after 6 in Iowa so I can't push it much earlier.
As I was heading out to the garden yesterday (Saturday) I was realizing that I really was a morning person. There is so much to like early in the morning. There are the sounds, ranging from silence to scolding wrens. (Actually the wrens will scold at any time of the day.) There is the changing light, as the sun first reaches parts of the yard. Then there is the fact that hardly anyone else is around.
I understand there are many people who, let's just say, are not morning people.
So I walked out of the house Saturday morning. I come out on the west side of the house.  I turned the corner and this is what greeted me:

It was one of those exclamation moments. I quickly went back and got my camera.

The riotous flower  color has ended. It is a busy time in the garden. There is the basic yard maintenance. That means there are many weeds to pull.

There is also cleanup in the beds that have finished blooming. I cut my daylilies back after they finish blooming. This makes it easier to weed between the plants. This results in a nice clean bed. I can then move on to something else.






It is hard to keep up with it all. I have just done something I have never done before. I have hired a very part time helper. His name is Ron and he comes over early in the morning 5 hours/week. It really is amazing how much that helps. Sometimes things get done without my personal involvement. (This conclusion was not rocket science.) I have also discovered how much more two people can do than one. That is particularly the case when that one is me and I get distracted. In the middle of something I will decide that I should now do something else.

This morning we started at 6 and put in this path replacing one that had been completely overgrown.

After we had taken up the grass I realized that the path was in a part of the garden with really good dirt. It would be a waste to put the path over that good dirt. So we moved the dirt. What? Well, we dug up the dirt down about 6 inches down for the entire path. We then went and got some bad dirt from the few parts of the garden that had bad dirt. One such place is along the street. There is lots of clay there. So... we swapped out the dirt, put down fabric, and then added the wood chips and bricks. Voila!



There are still a few gems in the garden.

Here is a little dwarf hearty hibiscus.  All the hearty hibiscus bloom in August. I wish I had more sun for the bigger varieties.

Here are pictures of the non hearty hibiscus. I have 3-4 of these plants. (They have to come inside in the winter.)

Garden news:
We had another timely rain this week, almost an inch, on Wednesday night. My, the weeds were pulling up easily after the rain.

The zinnias I planted a few weeks ago are growing quite nicely. I have a flat started. I can now start splashing them around.
I just planted 2 new flats of impatients. I think I might see if there are still some left at the box store. They were about $2/flat.

The Night blooming Cereus has started setting a few buds. This will be for the late September bloom.

You should be able to see the bud, less than an inch long at this point, in the picture to the right. What is kind of neat is that I also found a bud on the baby plant I started from cuttings last fall. I suppose all these plants will bloom on the same night in maybe 5 weeks.

The yellow orchid cactus that bloomed in June has many seed pods at this point.I shall see how mature they are when it is time to bring the plant in this fall.








I was so inspired by the bloom a week ago I went on the internet, looking for some  orchid cactus plants. I found a place where if you bought 9 of them you would get free shipping. I am always a sucker for any kind of sale.
Delivery should be this coming week. Some are orange. Some are white. Some are lavender. I can't wait for 2018.

The two big bouganvillia plants are starting to have some flowers. They are very full. It should be a good September for those plants.

The regular cactus have about 5 plants with some buds.
Here is one that should bloom in the next 3-4 days.

The first Japanese anemone bloomed Saturday. There will be many more.

The waterlilies continue.
This was Friday morning.

This is the same flower by 1 p.m.

This is the fully open flower Saturday. It bloomed almost all day.

This pink lily tried to hide.











With there not being as many flowers in August, foliage patterns become worthy of pictures. Here are some from this weekend.



The weather was great the last few days. One of these mornings I will need a jacket.

That's about it.
Come by some time. It is looking better by the week.
Philip