So, how's the weather?

I've realized that I talk about our weather fairly often in my blog.  I guess that's what people bring up when they are having a hard time trying to start up a conversation.  Aside from the rain today, there really isn't much happening garden related.  I tried to be creative and take pictures by standing on the porch and showing views from our front door, but realized that this is the day before garbage day and the background would be full of garbage cans and parked cars.  So that topic was out.  Then I thought I'd take some nice raindrop pictures, but the wind kept blowing as I tried to focus the camera.  The thought of taking the end of month view pictures came up, but after looking at the dying Japanese Maple I decided it was too depressing to show the tree even worse looking than last month (click here to see last month's end of month view).
One new thing I noticed was that the magnolia tree seems to have flower buds forming.  It never bloomed this spring... is it normal to bloom in the fall?  Other than that, not much is happening today.
So instead I just took pictures with no real topic behind this post other than I thought they looked pretty.

Fuchsia 'Pat's Dream'

Rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton' is finally trying to bloom.   Her last buds were all broken off by a basketball mishap.  I guess the rain will prevent anyone from playing sports in the driveway.

The unknown pink rose.

Pink Flower Carpet rose

Juicy looking pears!  I'm trying to figure out when to pick them, any suggestions?

Salvia on it's second bloom after being cut all the way back a month ago.

Black-eyed Susans

This Salvia is just now blooming for the first time this "summer".

How do you come up with topics, especially on days that there doesn't seem to be something going on but have some pictures to share?  Do you like the topic to be thought provoking or educational?  Do you talk about your weather?  I know some people may find weather topics uninteresting, but I honestly like hearing what it's doing in other parts of the world and how it affects the garden.  

So, how is your weather today?

Sunny weekend.

What a great weekend we ended up having. The weather really improved, although I don't know if we actually reached 75 degrees. Just having two days of sun and having a chance to enjoy it was just perfect. In fact it was just the right temperature for digging, weeding and even gutter cleaning ☺. The girls had a sprinkler out and had a lot of fun. Around here lately if it's above 65 degrees it feels like Summer.
We also made a trip to the Antique Rose Farm, which I mentioned in an earlier post, and chose a new David Austin rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton'. It's full of buds now, but when it blooms I'll post some pictures.

I was so happy to find that the Oriental Poppy 'Princess Victoria Louise' is blooming. Last year in the heat of the Summer I decided to chance moving it to a sunnier place where it could get bigger. Later in the year I found that I had left roots behind and new leaves were coming up. I happily dug that plant up and moved it to another place. Now the original roots have sent up leaves and flowers as well as the two I moved. So, not only did the plant survive the move, but I ended up with three total.

Salvias are blooming and covered in bees.

Spireas are full of flowers. This one's tag has been lost, but I really love the bright pink flowers on it.

The 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea I planted last Summer is doing well, still small, but lots of blooms.

Rose 'Kimberlina' has lightly scented flowers.

Campanula 'Summertime Blues'. I've read these flowers are sterile so should not spread as much as some Campanulas do.

One of the hanging Fuchsias. The hummingbirds have been at the Fuchsias off and on all during the day.

I've been trying some new things out on my blog. I wrote this post in Blogger in draft where you can load pictures much quicker and choose extra large for the size. While these pictures aren't quite as large as before, loading them this way saves me time and is easier to put them in the post. I'm also changing the blog layout some. Please let me know if anything seems out of place or is difficult to read. I've noticed some Blogger blogs loading very slowly lately too, not sure if it's just my computer or if others have noticed that as well.