...and bad mistakes, I've made a few...

Sweltering, humid, and no rain...hello, August!  At least the daily dew is really heavy.  

It's a good thing, because unless we actually get rain, this is the only moisture that my garden will be getting. My fatal mistake of expecting pathway weeds to die has pretty much sunk the garden this year.  The weeds thrived and spread into the beds.  It was hot and dry, and belatedly trying to pull them proved impossible.  Then, while we were on our trip, everything sprouted.  Now the flowers are like a museum exhibit - see, but don't touch.

Ticks, spiders, snakes...the paths are gone, and it's a jungle out there.  As much as I'd like to just mow it down, we still enjoy looking at the flowers (from a distance).  Of course, the pollinators and the birds are loving the smorgasbord.  When it finally cools down, I can take a weed whacker to the worst sections.

The newer garden isn't nearly as overgrown, at least!

I'm collecting a few seed types this year, but not many.  Multi-variety flowers like zinnias, cosmos, celosia, sunflowers, etc. will not grow true from saved seed in an open-pollinated garden, so I'll just order the varieties that I'm interested in.  The birds can have these!

I am saving a few types of flowers for drying.  Celosia, gomphrena, yarrow, and strawflowers are supposed to be great for this.

I've got a nice variety of celosia this year! Pink, yellow, cream, sherbet, orange, red...plume, wavy, and wrinkled...I hope they'll dry well.

Strawflower petals are already dry, so they retain their appearance well after hanging.

There are still beautiful things to be discovered in that tangled jungle, like an edge patch of zinnia with beautifully saturated petals.

I planted red, yellow, and white milkweed...none of which grew.  However, a stray wild milkweed is looking gorgeous and ready to provide for the monarch butterflies!

A painted turtle peeked out of the grass at the edge of the garden.

Just beyond the back garden, a fawn was surprised by the dawn.  In the fog, she'd gotten turned around...and Mom was on the other side of the fence.

She didn't appreciate my attempt to open the back gates for her.

I had to leave the front gate open for an escape route!

August is tough, absolutely my least-favorite month.  That's one of the reasons why I wanted to get married in August...so at least there was one good thing in it! I'm just focusing on getting through the next couple of sticky, hot weeks...working on winter projects...

...and dreaming of the day when I can finally open a window to let in fresh air.  September is coming!

Have a great week!

fit to split

The days are still warm enough for cheerful visitors...

But this might be the most anticipated visitor of all!

After a 6-week dry spell, we have had two short rains.  Not nearly enough, but every little bit helps.  There's no rain in the forecast for the next 10 days, but I'm hoping that these little episodes are enough to put the garden to bed (and not the grave!) over the next couple of weeks.  So far, it's still going strong.

Flowers are still blooming, and I'm still getting my cat escort on my daily trips to the garden.

Things are looking good, but there are definite casualties.  The hot weather has turned our soil to dust over compacted clay, so when we had strong wind last week, some of my beloved taller flowers were downed.  I lost several of my Benary's wine zinnias (5" - 6" flower heads!), and also my beloved 'Mission Giant' marigolds, which look so much like yellow dahlias.  Whole stalks split on the top-heavy plants.

At least I'm going to have big marigold bouquets for a while.

The good news is that I've read that pollinated flowers WILL produce seed.  These marigolds were covered in pollinators, so the large, open flowers are going to be saved and dried.  I'll take a couple of their seeds and attempt to germinate them in a plastic baggie, wrapped in a wet paper towel.  If they germinate, then I can assume that the whole lot is viable.  Hooray!

I'm collecting seeds from my nasturtiums, with their lily pad leaves...

...and it seems that FINALLY, our goldfinches are migrating.  This means that I'll be able to salvage seeds from the rest of my zinnias and cosmos, which is a big relief.

I've noticed, with our heavy dews, that we've got little pockets of webs all over the yard.

These are made by tiny grass spiders, and the drops of dew caught on the webs make them visible.

It's hard to believe that soon, all of the little spiders and their webs, both large and small...

...will be gone for the season!  Although I'm still seeing spiders, butterflies, and bees, I don't think they'll be around for more than another week or so.  Our temperature dipped to 35 degrees last night.  The slow slide into winter is in full swing now!  You can already see it in our house, as our cats are perfect temperature barometers.  Cats lingering in sunbeams...

...or curled up in quilts?  Oh, yeah - I don't have to be a Game of Thrones fan to know that winter is coming.  

But I'll prolong fall as long as possible, with touches of leaves and fall color wherever I can put them.

Have a great week!

dew drop inn

 We've had especially heavy dew lately, which is easily seen on abandoned webs.

It's amazing...like silvery drops of mercury.

This time of year, I see spider webs everywhere...spun in between old hosta spikes...

...or tucked away in a sheltered place.

I'm glad we've got this dew to offer some moisture, because it is so hot and dry now.  I'm sure that it's been nearly 6 weeks with no rain, and there's no rain in the forecast.  It's gotten so bad that hearing rain on a T.V. show provokes a strong and wistful reaction.  Rain (I think I understand that scene in Tolkien's The Return of the King when Frodo tells Sam that he can't recall the taste of strawberries)! Our morning glories are wilted by mid-morning...

...but somehow, the rest of the garden seems to be thriving.  I almost never water, so I'm not quite sure how this is possible!

It's still a challenge to keep the goldfinches away from some of the flowers.

Claudia is doing her part...

...but so many flowers are being completely plucked bare.  A cloud of goldfinches rises from the garden if disturbed, every day.  They can have the sunflowers, but I've started covering my zinnias with small organza bags.  Hopefully there will be enough seeds for us both!

It's been a really rough summer, between Covid isolation (we're officially a hot spot), the news cycle (grim), and seeing so many people nakedly reveal their true hearts on Facebook (people suck).  I'm losing my battle to stay positive, so I'm taking a hiatus from Facebook and all other news for a while.  And I'm surrounding myself in rainbows, cheerful rainbows!

These gloves will be done soon.  This glove needs a thumb and a mate, and it will be ready to go!

I've been very slowly working on a rainbow quilt, while babying my shoulder.  One thousand, two hundred eighty tiny 2.5" half square triangles.  

To make them with the 8-at-a-time method, you have to iron your fabric...measure...cut...sew...cut...iron...and then meticulously trim to size.  It's been a very lengthy process, but I'm nearly finished.  Just a handful of squares to go!  Then I have to decide...do I want to do a jumbled-color design?

Do I want to go in "rainbow order"?

It's not only the color juxtaposition, but also the design itself.  Do I want to be orderly, like the above photo, or do I want an interesting positioning, like the pattern calls for?

The only way to be sure is to lay everything out, over and over again, and compare.  At least I have help!

He's been VERY helpful in general during the sewing process.

I don't think I could manage it without his vocal support!

Stay sane, and have a great week!