Garden Update and a Whirlwind PA Trip

On Wednesday, I returned from a whirlwind trip to PA to help my mom, aka “Momma Jane” prepare for another move — this time from a standalone house into a 2BR apartment in an active retirement community where many of her friends live. She’ll hire packers and movers, but my 5-day trip laid the legal, financial, insurance and emotional groundwork for her shift. Big mountains (of paperwork!) moved. The weather in PA was hot, hot, hot to this Michigan gal, but on my last full day there, we remembered to take a sweaty selfie:

I came back to a raucously blooming garden that needed a bit of deadheading but otherwise maintained itself. Here’s some seasonal red, white and blue:

Red bergamot “fireworks” with a bumble bee up front

Madonna lily in bloom

Delphiniums on the Fourth of July

… and pinks:

Garden Update ~ Pollinator Paradise

So far so good on the groundhog front! Since I removed all kale, lettuce and red clover, they’ve not been back. Or, if they have, they still don’t like chard, herbs and all my super fragrant flowers. Our yard is pollinator central for the neighborhood, and I love it! So many bees of all sorts, wasps, butterflies, and moths. The birds are more abundant, too. Just thought I’d share some beauty:

Garden Update: Perennials in Containers and Mid-May Blooms and Growth

Tomorrow marks the supposed last frost for Kalamazoo, MI. I’ll need to find a new motivation to do squats now that I (hopefully) won’t need to haul these lilies and ranunculus into the garage a couple nights per week! The almost blooming chives in front love the cool spring nights, but I bought the more tender flowers on the first warm day we had. Six frost warnings later, I admit, I got a bit ahead of the weather. 🙂

Our backyard redbud knows the right time to blossom. I love this tree, and the photos never do it justice:

Hostas, rhubarb, vinca, and strawberries know it’s time to go green:

Autumn Renewal

As we move further into autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, I can’t help smiling at the instantaneous replacement of whatever falls away. I see this most obviously in the garden, where hibiscus leaves turn yellow and burgundy for fall, while two of our four bushes sport an unexpected second round of blooms:

Making room for new food in our chest freezer the other day,

September Pretties

It feels like Autumn right now — grey skies, blustery winds … fall clematis, nasturtiums and sedum in bloom. Here’s a little garden beauty to start your week:

The Garden Wore Red

All dressed up on a Friday afternoon:

The August Garden

Some photos of Dra’Faven’s front yard cottage garden: