Happy Saturday! At last, a reprieve from the 100F heat that plagued us all week. Everyone in my house is still sleeping, revelling in the fresh cool air. I on the other hand, am heading out to dig another section of the new daylily bed along the spite fence. I have not been able to get anything done there due to the heat, and I want the whole thing completed by September. If I haven't got it finished, I will actually pay to have the rest done. My promise to myself! It is clear to see that summer is an extremely busy time for the Idylls! All the gardens, travel, company coming, beautiful garden tours and planters.....this is the first "place" that I come to every morning, and I am never disappointed! Happy birthdays too to all that I may have missed. Nice to have you back, Marion! Large planters and raised beds are a great way to garden - fewer weeds! I hope someone has heard from Mary. Kathy you are really taking advantage of summer - so many interesting places to go! Michelle, it is hard to see the kids fly off somewhere, even if it is to follow their drems. Bug, I am sure the farm looks great, as always! How are all the chickens? I really like the green roof idea V! Woody, you are such an enabler *LOL* My Wild Horses daylily is open this morning - I now have about ten different ones for the spite bed fence. You are sure right about it being too hot to do major garden renos. Love the shed colours btw. I have been moaning about wanting a Saucy leaf for a couple of weeks. The result is a promise from DH to help me clean out the shed for a work space so I can try my hand at making one. Wasn't exactly what I had in mind *LOL* Notice no comments about the Juliejobs or the EAT program....September I guess! Lots more to say as usual, but I want to get digging before the heat! Cheers, all! Julie

Christie, my 3 Azaleas came from Wal Mart. They have all done very well ( until the pink one was frozen very badly last year).I did not amend my soil. It is already acid, and wild azaleas grow down in our hollow by a pour-off.( I transplanted one into my yard under a bladdernut several years ago. It has lots of blooms right now! ) My white one is so large I have to prune it back after it blooms. It is over 5' tall and 8' wide. I have had it at least 15 years.It was a gift from a dear eldery friend. I looked for a label but can't find one. :-( The white one holds it's leaves all winter. The pink and red ones do too, but not as well. Here is the white and the pink 2 years ago: They are on the northeast side of our house, by the deck. Below is the red one, also a couple of years ago. It is on the northwest side of our house.

Finally decided on a woodland type - Limestone-rich cove forest. We don't really have "cove forests" around here, but this spot is fairly protected, and it stays moist all year (except this year!). So, I have ordered a bunch of plants (some, I transplanted from around here) Trees: -Sugar Maple -Basswood -Yellow Buckeye -Mountain Silverbell -Fraser Magnolia (that was a hard one to locate) -Umbrella magnolia -Flowering Dogwood -Redbud For shrubs, I've found: -American bladdernut -Spicebush (common around here anyways) The forest floor appears to be the most diverse. Most of the plants from the Limestone-rich Appalachian Cove Forests grow around here anyways, and the ones that don't look fairly simple to grow. I've ordered tons of wildflowers, ferns, and sedges - All I've got right now is a solid cover of bur sedge, woodland ryegrass, and some annoying plant with sticky burs on it. Should be a different picture 5 to 10 years from now!

Hey Jay, the Smilax and Rubus are in a thicket at the back of the lot and Im just going to let them grow wild for the birds. It was hard to get that close to the Rubus to take the picture, had to step through a lot of poison ivy. I just looked at that Astragalus, and on BONAP, none of them are native in my county but canadensis is close. I didnt really have this concept when I was ordering these plants and seeds a couple years ago. Crassicarpus looks like a good one for you to grow, and a food source. Ribes hirtellum and triste are native to my county, but the thorns on mine dont seem to match. My property used to be farm land I wonder if somebody grew that Ribes on purpose at some point. I just noticed a couple weeds in my front flower bed. One was a walnut tree, the other, an oak. One in the white oak by the looks of it too. Thanks squirrels! into the pot farm: