garden stuff

I found a dead robin in the driveway bed last night. It's been an interesting season for that driveway bed--the first Siberian iris bloom, a nest of bunnies, and now a dead robin. I remembered that you should call somebody or other when you find a dead bird because of West Nile, so I got one of the Ts' poopbags and picked it up and tied the bag closed and put it in an easily-accessible place. This mornng I called around and learned I should call the Health Department, which I did. They said I should bring it in. Ewwwwwwww!!! I was hoping they'd send someone out after it. So at noon I put the bag into another poop bag and tied that one closed, and took it out before I went back to work--I did NOT want a dead robin sitting in my van for four hours in the 90-degree heat all afternoon.

Anyway--here's a few photos of the garden. Not much is going on right now--Hyperion daylilies blooming, and lavender, and that's about it. These pictures are actually from about 10 days ago:

The first is Francois Rabelais, that neon-red rose, set off very nicely by the silver artemesia. I wish I had a really thick planting of the artemesia. It's a perfect foil for the rose.

The next one is the front corner bed shot from the front porch. Even though the flowers all face the street, I think it still looks pretty.

This is the "hosta nursery." I forget the name of the place, but they sell you like 25 unlabeled baby hostas for about $30. I got some about 3 years ago. They're supposed to be all different kinds, but as you can see, I have at least 5 that appear to be the same kind. There are some smaller ones you can't really see in this picture. If I ever get the energy, I'm going to move the bigger ones out front, between the street and the place the dogs potty, to act as a screen. Then I might get another 25 baby hostas to start!

I don't know what's up with some of the yard this year--remember the grass I so tenderly and anxiously cared for and groomed this spring, and that was looking so great a month ago? Part of it just suddenly died. It's brown. You can see it's quite thick; it just *died*. I have no clue. (The yellow streak in the foreground is late evening sun.)

Things I don't have pictures of tonight: the bare spot in front of the raised lily bed that used to be home to 3 big husky hosta aureo-marginatas and 3 striped sedges. They, too, have just disappeared. Also, the St. Swithin climbing rose, which is blooming more beautifully than I ever expected after the freeze damage, and the Hyperion daylilies, which are my favorite daylilies. They're a "vintage" type, tall, slightly scented, and a beautiful pale, cool yellow that I like much more than the orange-gold of Stella D'Oro. To use a very out-of-date word, it seems very "refined." I like it very much. I'll try to get some pics of them tomorrow, before they finish blooming.