I'm sorry...I've been out in the yard.

The weather has been normal Spring-like, which means I can actually go outside and get stuff done. We've had a goodly amount of rain. We've had a couple of hot days, but it's going to cool off for the weekend, just in time for the 3rd annual barbecue out in BFE.

The gardens out front are looking fine. The Iris have come and gone, and they looked outstanding this year. I'll for sure have to divide them this fall. I did lose some plants due to last season's inclement weather(drought), but that was mostly non-native plants, and they won't be missed, really. Stuff seems to be blooming early this year. Or maybe this is how it should be, but last year it was so droughty stuff bloomed later? The Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Pallida) is in full bloom, as is the Lance-leaved Coreopsis (Coreopsis Lanceolata)and the Butterfly Weed (Asclepias Tuberosa).

My Adam's Needle (Yucca Filamentosa) is getting set to bloom, it didn't last year. That's it above (pic when I get home from work). Cupid's Dart will be full of blooms, and it will bloom for the rest of the summer if I keep it dead-headed, and Dan doesn't mow it. I just found out it's not native, but not invasive either. Which leaves me torn about shall it stay or shall it go. It really is quite a lovely plant.

When men mow, everything looks like grass even though it may have pretty purple flowers on it. Dan was banned from the weed whacker when he cut down, in one single afternoon, a Kentucky Wisteria, and a bunch of Iris. The reason? They looked like grass.

Okay...now it's Sunday. The party's over. YAY! I'm beat. The gardens looked good, I thought. There's not much blooming right this second, though this stuff is budding...Grey headed coneflower, New York ironweed, Queen of the Prairie, Royal Catchfly, Purple Coneflower, Rudbeckias(Prairie Sun and Goldsturm), and a couple other things I forgot. Dan, unbeknowst to me, got out the weed-whacker again. And chopped down a rather pretty plant called Maltese Cross(Lychnis chalcedonica). It'll be back next year. I made a table setting out of it along with some other stuff. It'll grow back next year.