Photos From A Busy Week

Blackberries are ripening in quantity!

A blackberry pie for our household and another for Gina's tribe.

[Matt, Gina and Devin began the move into their house down the road on Thursday.]

First blooms on the trumpet vine. J. pruned it severely but it is still rampaging up the crabapple tree.

New starts of trumpet vine clambering over the woodpile.

In Vermont a trmpet vine which survived the long cold winters and managed to climb and produce a few blooms was quite a marvel.

Here in Kentucky they have invasive weed status, developing gnarly trunks and tenacious branches which strangle trees, shrubs or buildings in their pat.

The first ruffly pink poppy bloomed this week.

An unknown moth on a hibiscus leaf.  The hibiscus was attacked this year by the same nasty little green worms who devastated the hollyhocks. J. sprayed them with a solution of sevin--which didn't improve the look of the plant.

Each day the magnolia tree produces fragrant waxy flowers.

Finally, rain and several days and nights of welcome cooler weather after the long spell of heat and drought.

The lower garden shimmers in the rain, tomatoes soaking up moisture, squash and corn growing

 even as we watched!

The perennial border is refreshed after the rain, but many plants are past their peak bloom.

I've begun cutting back the nepetas, uprooted the invasive catnip [nepeta cataria] restrained some galloping apple mint.  I've set out achillia [yarrow] seedlings, grubbed and weeded.

The dark red poppies seem to be the predominant strain.

I'm reminded of the color "alizerin crimson."

Achillia "Paprika" in the foreground with a scarlet monarda and the poppies behind.