First Fertilizer Friday of Summer.

Well, it finally feels as if Summer has arrived here.  The sun has been out for several days and the temperatures have finally made it to the mid 70's.  Perfect gardening weather!  I've been doing some weeding and clean up in different parts of the yard and it really felt good to be out there.  The plants have really responded to the warmer temperatures and are looking great.  I bought more Zinnia seeds to sow since I have a feeling the others may not come up.  I've also noticed the Dahlias are very slow to come up this year.  I dug up some tubers to see what was happening and saw that there is new growth, they just seem to be taking their time.
 

When we first went outside a couple of days ago Sweet Pea was excited to find two of these Dragonflies in our front yard.  We usually see the large Blue Darners here, these ones are a little less common in our yard.  I couldn't figure out what type they were.

 Campanula 'Pantaloons' finally made a comeback.  I planted it two summers ago, last year the slugs wouldn't leave it alone and it never bloomed.  I moved it earlier this Spring and was happy to see it blooming.  The inside is covered in purplish polka dots.

The new David Austin rose 'Lady Emma Hamilton' is getting close to opening.

 Oxalis crassipes rosea surprised me in bloom.  It tends to stay closed up on cool overcast days, something we've had a lot of.  The clumps of bright pink flowers really stand out.

 Linaria has just started blooming.  It reseeds quite a bit, but is easy to pull up in unwanted places.

 Veronica spicata

Yarrow (Achillea filipendula) 

 I thought it was interesting to see how similar the center of the annual Breadseed Poppies (Papaver somniferum) are to

the perennial Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientale) 'Princess Victoria Louise'.

To see who else is "flaunting their flowers" this Fertilizer Friday visit Tootsie who hosts it each week.

A good day!

I try not to complain too much on here about things other than the weather, but the last couple of months just seemed to have been one thing after another around here. Nothing serious any of them, but after a continual stream of something expensive breaking or someone being sick I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and stressed last night. I remember thinking to myself last night, "Please let tomorrow be a good day!"
Going in to wake Sweet Pea this morning, never an easy task, I raised her shade only to be greeted by this beautiful sunrise:

It was the most bright red sky and the fog had settled in the low areas behind the school yard.

Just to the right of the sunrise the fog was heavy but the red sky still glowed. How could something this pretty not signal a good day?
Later in the day after returning from a nursery where I found a beautiful double Hellebore that I'd been looking for, I went outside in the backyard to do a little cleanup. (The Hellebore is still in bud, but I will show pictures when it opens.)

As I looked across the pond I realized that a couple of Water Hawthorn flowers had opened with more buds coming through the surface of the water.

A Primrose along the path that was planted last year is just about to bloom.

The Corsican Hellebore is opening more too.

The buds on this Oxalis crassipes 'Rosea' seemed to have appeared overnight. It isn't unusual for this Oxalis to bloom in the Winter, but I hadn't seen flowers on it for quite a long time.

Another Pulmonaria bud from a division I made last year. This probably isn't that early either early, maybe a couple of weeks. Still I was very happy to see it.

And the Iris reticulata that I shared in bud late last week, has now bloomed. They remind me of a watercolor.

An unplanned pairing; the sign and the Iris, but a perfect combination I think!

Yes, today was a good day. I hope it was a good day for everyone else too!