It's been such a miserable day--93 (about 34 C) and humid. I've done nothing but lie on the couch in front of the fan and read. The dogs keep wanting to go out and I keep telling them it's too freakin' miserable for them to go out. We just came in from half an hour in the dog pen, and as Taenzer, with her tongue about 2 feet long, settled herself directly in front of the fan, she gave me the dirtiest look you can imagine. I told her, "Hey, I told you it was miserable out there, you're the one who wanted to go out." It's supposed to rain tonight and be cooler next week. I devoutly hope it's true.
I did venture out for about an hour--I'm taking care of an apartment full of plants while someone's in Europe for a month. I've plant-sat for her before, but this year she decided to leave the bigger plants outside. She lives in a townhouse, with the regulation sliding doors and concrete patio, and she's planted on either side of her patio clear to the neighbors' on either side. She's got stuff just crammed in there--bearded irises, roses, clematis, a grape vine, honeysuckle, yarrow, some stuff I won't recognize until it blooms--it looks chaotic and beautiful. There are some dark blue irises just finishing up, beside this amazing peach/apricot/yellow rose, that I'd love to get a photo of if the rain they're predicting doesn't flatten everything. Her patio faces south, so everything gets tons of sun, which is one reason her roses are the size of dinner plates and mine are the size of my palm. Also, she's planted great big hybrid teas and floribundas that just naturally bloom big. Anyway, I had to tote water out to water all the potted plants, and water everything inside, and then I found some scissors and did a little tidying in the flower beds.
Here are some of my roses, and a few other things:
This isn't a great pic, but if you click for the full size, you can see that Auguste Renoir is still blooming and that Othello has one bloom. In the foreground you can see some of the hosta Robert planted for me. Squint and imagine in it in 3 years, when they've had time to get established and fill out.
This is a little closer to the roses Othello had two blossoms a couple of days ago, but the wind demolished one. It's a beautiful rose with a beautiful scent. I wish I could site it so that it got a little more sun--maybe if I had the blue spruce cut down it would get more morning sun. If it could flourish the way Auguste Renoir does, it would be a beautiful contrast. The lavender isn't quite blooming yet, but soon. Over on the far side the bush clematis is blooming, and looking gorgeous--I'll have to, um, get a picture of it. :)
This is Francois Rabelais from back in the driveway bed. Francois used to be where Othello is, but I think you can see that he's completely the wrong color--way too assertive. He's actually even louder than that. The silver dusty miller behind him really sets him off, doesn't it? Another beautifully-shaped flower, though it hasn't much scent.
This is fuzzy, but it's Sterling Silver. I've heard that hybrid tea roses don't open well when it's humid, but after having seen the roses where I'm plant-sitting, I'm not sure I can blame the humidity. I can blame the limited sunlight, bless it's heart. I'd have to cut down the ash tree by the back door for it to get more sun. But still, for all that, it's a pretty rose with one of those light, lemony scents.
And yes, these are the petunias and pentas I bought to plant out in front of Renoir and Othello. They just look so pretty with the violas that I've just left them where they are for the time being. My camera always washes out blues, so the blue of the violas here doesn't pack the punch they do in real life--the yellow, blue, and pink actually balance each other beautifully. In the back are the bricks that broke off the chimney; I asked them to save them for me. I like to use them to mark off beds, and I'm planning to add to the shade garden under the ash tree.
I hope it rains like it's supposed to--I didn't water the hostas. Well, if it doesn't rain tonight, I'll water them at noon tomorrow.
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