Gorgeous pictures, everyone! I appreciate Diane and Lavender Lass helping everyone build a mental picture of the contrast between the Great Plains and the arid west. We ARE indeed Great Plains here in Nebraska, and traditionally we're thought of as a relatively dry climate, with the humidity very high if it reaches 40 or 45% in the summer. Just east of us across the Mississippi in Iowa or other Great Lakes states, they'd laugh at the idea of that being high humidity (I remember Seil listing hers at about 80%). There's a reason why the Great Plains are traditionally grasslands I guess - enough rain for grass but not enough for many native trees (except cottonwood) until you get out to the Rockies. Even though we're on the dry side as far as humidity (and blackspot - yay) goes, our yearly average precipitation is something between 30-35 inches a year, more in this year. Of course some of that is snow, as is coming down all day today, but it takes a depressing amount of snow to make one inch of precipitation. Looking at everyone else's report, I count us fortunate to get as much rain as we do. Well, except this summer - in one memorable 36 hour period we had 13.5 inches of rain and all kinds of flooding and sewers backing up. Nothing like Buford's 100 inches, but it was a soggy spring and early summer. It does highlight the fact that the "common wisdom" of how much rain a garden needs is highly situation specific. I'd always heard the rule of thumb that gardens need an inch of rain a week but that would average out to 52 inches a year, and almost no one logging in here except the southeast and selected folks on the US east coast seem to get that. I don't even bother to expect that in the growing season here, and only water an inch or so if we've been without rain for 2-3 weeks or it's just beastly hot. Even the relatively soggy Pacific Northwest or central England sites don't get that much rain for an inch a week, but plants grow well and there is the appearance of a lot of moisture. Maybe it's just the natural "misting" effect of the light rains that keep things so green there. Just goes to show that roses (and other plants) can't read what they're "supposed" to do, and instead we give them the care that they "tell" us they need when we pay attention. Cynthia

Nice late afternoon photo. Dee! RTHawk, I am amazed at the dandelions since you are only an hour south of me! I have had snow totally covering the ground for some time, but our last big snow ended as rain, leaving the ground with an oddly lumpy, glazed appearance for some time. Then last week we had a light dusting of snow so that now it is lumpy but without the shiny surface. The woods are a bit icy, so I have to wear hiking spikes when I go out with the dog. The creek is mostly frozen, though I wouldn’t dare to walk on it. Today it is snowing and windy.

I'm just tickled that a hummingbird actually visited your Weigela, Dee, because I really wanted to add one to my plans for a Hedgerow and I do like every plant to earn it's keep on my small property. Pretty spring flowers, polinators, easy care AND hummingbird attractor. That is going on my list for sure. I do love that 'Beverly Sills' Iris and I could actually be a big Iris fan except for the amount of work they require because they have to be divided so frequently. Or should be I've thought. The Iris I have now, was a NOID and it has turned into a great plant. It hasn't been divided and instead has spread out and increased. And I've not seen rust on it at all, which is the second reason I cooled off on the idea of a lot of Iris. It would be nice to pick up another Beverly Sills at least. I am happy to grow a few and see how they do, as long as I don't have to be too invested, in case they become too much trouble. They're also out of bloom so much of the year, I forgot that. I do have a variegated one that at least makes up for that too. I'm working on a new plan to add those to a corner of my front bed where I am taking out a grass that became way too aggressive of a reseeder. I'm reluctant to add another grass now. I already have a Nepeta right there, so the Iris would go with it and I can move the poppy in that corner too. A little late to do anything about it now, but maybe in the fall. Deanna, I just took a walk around the garden this morning and I'm so excited because the roses are full of big fat buds and starting to open. June 1st is the date I expect them and they are right on time. Penelope a small flowered one time bloomer is the first bloom open. But the rest are right behind that. Last season we had so much consistent rain that the garden seems to be better than usual this spring, especially the roses. So, I feel the same way, some of my plants are getting ready to all bloom at once. The end of May beginning of June is a busy season for my garden. I'm going to try to clean up the front bed this morning and put down new mulch to make sure nothing detracts from the display. I made a spreadsheet once called Six on Six. I used it to develop a gardening plan that chose 6 main plants for 6 months of the growing season. I lost track of that and didn't finish it but I'm reminded of it and want to pick it back up again. I felt it helped me to spread the bloom season out over a longer period of time. Deanna, I came across a bulb blooming in my vegetable bed and don't know what it is yet either. I'm going to have to take a photo and figure out what it is. Your Star of Bethlehem is very pretty and a very pretty name too! For me Nepeta usually grows pretty quickly into a larger size. Don't you just love the buds on the Oriental Poppies?! As for being dry - this season has not been enough rain yet at all. I've been watering some. I do have my rain barrels up and thankfully we finally got enough to fill them this weekend. I had one filled early and used that all up. I cut my water bill in half last year, but I think it was mainly because we had so much rain. But the rainbarrels are really making a difference for me. I'm planning to add more.

Babs, I also love the wild part of your garden. It is so soothing to look at. And leave it to nature to develop a wonderful composition with no help from us. I’m wondering if you will have a garden where you will be living in Wisconsin? Has that been settled yet? Glad to hear your Hydrangea paniculatas are still looking good. Mine are doing okay, even in full sun, although I plan to try to move ours to less sun. I’m surprised they do so well in drought and heat. Deanna, disappointing to have a year like this. Deer on top of it. So they eat the buds on the azalea for next year? Frustrating, I’m sure. I also noticed that plants that were growing next to a new lasagna bed from last fall, did wonderful this year. I have too many areas where my soil really needs work. I’d love to just lasagna bed everything I could, but, alas, not going to happen this year. I’m going to try to collect bagged leaves from my neighbors and build as many as I can find time for. I’ve done them in the fall before and it has worked great for me. It really gives me a jump on them breaking down to go through the winter. This has been a good year to gain some experience with more drought than usual. I am very surprised at how many of the plants that wilted…sometimes stayed wilted for a week or more - still came back, like your lungwort. So, I will worry less next time. And actually, I can see the areas where the lawn was affected the most, and could certainly apply more water there to prevent the grass from dying all together. Sue, you are so lucky to have all that compost right down the street. And it certainly shows in your results. We normally put down a lot of shredded bark mulch and unfortunately, this was the year we did not have the time to do it. So the drought was worse. Fingers crossed next year we will find the time!