Good morning! I worked outside yesterday cutting back hawthorne and willows. I was awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, fell back asleep around 5 and didn’t wake again till 9! So I’m off to a late start lol!

We skipped right from early spring to midsummer temperature-wise, so I’m not sure if I’ll work outside today. Maybe I’ll work in the shade, sweeping down spider nests and cobwebs from the patio roof and around light fixtures.

Tonight is This Is Us and New Amsterdam, my ”must-watch” night! I saved some wine for the occasion.

Have a beautiful day!

TJ's had beautiful tulips when I was there on Saturday. I'm enjoying them around the house.

We are having a beautiful warm, sunny day today which is a welcome respite from cool, rainy weather of late. Neighbor, who is an amazing gardener, left an iris for me which I will plant later today. I will need to remember to wear light clothing on my walk today. I dread being chilled, so often I overdress and have to stop at home and strip down midway through.

We went for a nice walk this morning as the weather is super! Wished my daughter a happy anniversary...16 years. Made plans with our realtor to meet her and the photographer tomorrow to take listing pictures for a rental home we have put on the market. In a few minutes will be going with hubby to an echo appt. So things are falling into place. Will call my sister to see how she's feeling...she's got the virus. Am looking forward to watching This is Us also. Last week was a tear jerker. I sure wish we had a Trader Joe's close by.

It's going to be a beautiful week. About time. Thankfully warmer weather and NO RAIN until Saturday. Ya! I'm at camp alone this week. I just got back from the nursery with some flats of impatiens and marigolds. I'm going to work on planting my containers today and tomorrow plant/seed the gardens. This evening I'm meeting a gang of friends at the club for Taco Tuesday.

I am way behind on my spring gardening chores. And my garden is way behind compared to previous years. It has been wetter and much cooler than normal and the forecast is not showing any significant relief from that. 'Mostly cloudy', 'rain showers' and 'light rain' for the next 10 days with day time temps barely breaking 60F and nights firmly in the 40's!! It will be mid June by the time it's safe to plant tomatoes out. :-( The only good thing is the rhododendrons - in full boom now - will not be going over quite so fast.

Sunday and yesterday were mostly sunny if still not very warm but Sunday was taken up by family/Mother's Day stuff and yesterday I had to deal with a repairman and a client meeting that ate up the day. Figures!!

We have blue skies today but more of a grey-blue. I just learned it's smoke from the western and New Mexico fires that have made their way to Chicago!

bpath -- So THAT'S what it is! Maybe we should be glad not to have full sun when the weather has decided to pretend it's mid-July here. At least the long, cool spring has meant that we can enjoy our pear blossoms longer. I had no idea when we planted them that they would grow so tall!

Bpath, same here with the weather, it's 80 right now and the sun came out when I got to the city.

Fun2behere, I got a Spring mix with a beautiful violet colored statice in it. If any arrangements have this flower in it, it's the one I will pick. Always reminds me of Germany because when I lived there the little grocery store in the first town I lived in had them.

StaceyMB, I hate being cold too. I almost took my thin sweat jacket with me to go into Trader Joes but didn't. I started to get a little cold in there but wasn't in long enough for it to really bother me. Love how small their stores are.

Orchidrain, hope your sister gets better soon. I've noticed more Covid case calls lately. People taking home tests and want to know what to do now.

Functionthenlook, have fun planting!

Gardengal, I use what used to be called Wall o' waters for my tomatoes. They are mini greenhouses that you fill with water to protect them. They always take so long to produce. Last year I saved two of them and a pepper plant.

Kathsgrdn, thanks for the tip. But even wall 'o waters (and yes, I am very familiar with them) won't help if the soil temperature is too cold. And you need consistently warm days AND nights for that to change.

I mowed - again - today, I had just mowed last Thursday but the grass was so high already. Normally I don't like a "sheared" lawn, but I set the deck too low on my mower and didn't realize it. Since it would look weird to do the rest on a higher setting I continued. Golf course like lawns make me uncomfortable! lol Besides all the little wild flowers got their heads chopped off. Maybe I won't have to mow for awhile now though it being so short.

There are so many violets and other wild flowers in the orchard that I have a hard time mowing them, so I leave small patches here and there. The ground itself is still very damp. Sometimes when I sit on a chair at my small table down there, a chair leg or two will sink right into the soil sending me backwards. I've learned to be quick to jump off!

I think I will plant ever bearing strawberries in my mailbox cover this year just for something different. They will have a white bloom and hopefully have berries most of the summer. At least that's what I envision, will see if it works out.

Schoolhouse, I love wild violets. They are so pretty. The previous owner of my house planted strawberries everywhere. They come up all over the place but they are always tiny. She planted them for the birds. Most of the time I just let them go but they invade my garden beds sometimes so I have to pull them up.

Kath, are those the very small strawberry plants that look like a ground cover? I planted a winter berry several years ago, the next year I noticed this ground cover around its base with what looked like leaves of a strawberry plant. Then it had tiny red berries that are more round than strawberry shaped. Sure it came from the nursery where I bought the shrub. At first I pulled it, then decided to let it grow. As you mention, I think it will eventually spread a lot.

I have white violets, blue, red, and a white/blue speckled, and a white with a purple center. This Spring the white violets are really plentiful.

EDA: I looked it up. Apparently they are called "Potentilla indica known commonly as mock strawberry".

Schoolhouse, yes, I don't think they ever get really big like a normal strawberry plant. Well, I learned something new. She actually told me she planted them for the birds, or at least that's what I remember.