Sweet Refuge...

     ,,,Where did June go?  As I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging, suddenly it is July.  Once we hit the summer solstice on June 20th, the fourth of July slipped in there before we knew it.  Heat and humidity hit Ohio with a vengeance as temperatures hit the high 80's and the 90's. Now that it is July there is very little rain.  Browning lawns quietly recede as they give way to every weed known to mankind. After starting my second round of sunflower seedlings we are finally on our way, though slowly, to producing sunflowers. Thanks to my resident groundhog the sunflowers won't be worth much until fall, but that's okay.  Better late than never.  My solitary coneflower, a.k.a. Echinacea, is tall and blooming this year.  I started it from seed last year, but it never got big enough to produce blooms.  The good news is that it is blooming, the bad news is that something is eating the petals.  I am yet to spy the guilty party, but I suspect Japanese beetles are on the scene.   I am thrilled say my thymes are flourishing and other seedlings are beginning to mature.  There is plenty of Holy Basil coming along as well as a bumper crop of anise hyssop.  The fennel has produced a bunch of plants that are desperate to go into the ground, but it has been so hot that I have not been up to the task,  How I wish I had a horse trough.  Guess I will have to improvise something.  
      The summer is flying by and I find that my gardening ambitions are not moving along as quickly as I had hoped.  To keep the Mad Whacker from destroying my plants I am keeping most plants in pots.  Oh well, at least the lawn gets mowed.  So far I have been able to keep him from wiping out my Sweet Annie.  I plan to gather some more Sweet Annie plants from a friend's yard to add to my own plants.  Fall wreaths will be sweet indeed with those dried branches to add to them. A few herb vinegars will be possible from my modest plant selection.  Though it may be a "half glass" kind of offering it will be a precious half glass.  The sweet basil and opal basil have been kind enough to me that I may try some basil jelly as well.  One puzzler for me is the diminutive size of my lemon verbena.  One would think  I was trying to bonsai it.  Hmm,,,lemon verbena bonsai...now there's a thought...

Summery blue chicory

chicory

      Glorious rain has finally escaped from the black clouds that were gathering overhead.  It's a steady rain the kind that makes one want to run out and play in it like kids love to do.  The weekend prediction is for slightly cooler temperatures.  My plan is to play catch-up with my gardening efforts.  A little garden therapy is good for the soul.  Extreme heat kicks my butt.  It is good to "play in the dirt" as one of my art cronies put it.  Perhaps that will put my mind in a better place after seeing the Christmas merchandise being set up at Hobby Lobby two weeks ago. Christmas in July...I just can't embrace the movement.  If you haven't started your holiday shopping, you are already behind. That's a scary thought!  Garden...focus on the garden.!  It's the only refuge from all the madness around you. That's where I'll be...save yourself, join me if you can!...  

Wild Sweet Peas