Roy McPherson's Best Yellow Peony on Memorial Day

 In the fall of 2017, I planted this Peony root that I bought from Fina Gardens in Hillsdale, WI.  Sam & Helen are the owners and we play bridge together.  It's called Roy McPherson's Best Yellow Peony.  This is its 4th blooming year.  

The flower is huge and the petals are so delicate, and the center a real scene stealer!

In my daily journal I wrote that this Peony was fully open on this same date, 5/31 in 2020.

I did not go to a Memorial Day Service today, 
but always keep our veterans close to my heart.

♥️🇺🇸♥️

Screenshot from Luck School Memorial Day program.

Happy Birthday Roche!

 I guess Roche and I have been friends for about 50+  years now, so I've helped her celebrate a few memorable birthdays over the years.  Hope you had a good one today Roche.

I took a little walk about the yard to see what is growing.  Most of my recent transplanted perennials show signs of life, so that makes me glad.

This 'volunteer' hop vine showed up last year.  It will need a bigger trellis now.

Yellow Peony from yesterday, a little more open today.

Yellow Peony bud.  So lovely.

Yellow Peony, the petals look like crepe paper.

It looks to be a banner year for Iris.  I have never seen so many buds.
This is my all time favorite flower, so you'll likely see more photos of the irises as they open.

Lily of the Valley from friend Ann in Pine Island, MN

Forget-Me-Nots from friend Carolyne, RIP my gardener friend.

These Forget-Me-Nots popped up out in the grass, and my lawn guy continues to mow around them.

High Bush Cranberry, I got several of these from the county about 12 years ago, but this one came with the house.  It's in the courtyard so I keep it trimmed down smaller.  Such a pretty and fancy flower.

Hung a new flag, thinking of Dad.  He always liked to see a new flag on Memorial Day.

One of the reasons I went out for the walk about was to grab the SD card out of the trail cam in the backyard.  Much to my surprise, look who was on a walk just about an hour before I was out.

Trail cam sits on the railing of the back deck. 
He's headed towards the flower bed with the yellow peony.

Well, I guess he's not going away anytime soon.

Happy Birthday to Gus

 It would have been my oldest brother Gus's 75th birthday today.  I planted a yellow peony in his memory and today it is nearly open.

Tomorrow it will be fully opened.  This year, this plant has about 6 or 7 big buds on it.  I hope that they all do well, it is a delicate and beautiful bloom.

💛💛💛

I noticed this dragonfly landing on the Lily of the Valley.

He is called a Blue Dasher.

According to what I read, this is a male.

Interesting critter, it says they eat hundreds of insects everyday, 

so I hope they stick around for 'the hatch'

I watched baseball and basketball today and did laundry.  Barley and I had an excursion to the deck for a bit, it was fun watching some young rabbits racing across the yard.

Now it is time for a shower and to cook one of my meal kits.

Life is good.

I'm thinking

Here he is again, 3:40am, strolling through the courtyard.  

I guess he needs a name if I'm going to see him on camera nightly.

I'll have to noodle on that.

Bridge nuts

 Friend and bridge player Karen, from Washington,

 sent this cocktail napkin to each us in honor of Roche's birthday.

Happy Birthday Roche!

Flat Squirrels

Do you have flat squirrels at your house?

This goofy squirrel lays like this for long stretches. I guess he feels safe on my deck.

Yesterday, he was stretched out on a branch of the maple tree for quite a spell.

Just chillin' I guess.

Looks odd.

One of my bridge pals invited me out to her house in the country to dig up some plants. I went out this afternoon and came back with quite a haul. I do not know what anything is called, but everything will be flowering. I came home and plunked them all in the dirt. It is supposed to be a cold & rainy day tomorrow, perfect for new plants to get acclimated, I hope.

⛈⛈⛈

The Robins have a nest in the pine tree in the back yard, they were not impressed with my travels back and forth. I will have a few more things to plant this evening, as I am headed back to Monica's house who sold me the white violets and now she has blazing star. I'll get those in the ground tonight as well. The Robins can have their yard back after that.

🌲🌲🌲

The ugly & the good

 The Ugly

This time of year, the June bugs make going outside at night, near a light, a dreaded experience.  Just last night I waited a little too far into the evening to go out to grab the hummingbird feeders and was greeted with June bugs.  They want to latch on to anything and they totally gross me out.  I remember being in Luck for nephew Ryan's high school graduation about 25 years ago now, and after the ceremony, Dad and Ev & I stopped at the local liquor store to get some beer.  I came out of the store with a case of beer in each hand and was bombarded by the June bugs under the light by the door. They were attaching to my silky white blouse.  I did some kind of unholy dance and sprint and scream.  I remember Dad and some guy at the gas pump getting a real good laugh out of my antics.  It continues to be a vivid memory for me, and not in a good way.

The only good June bug is a dead june bug.  This one is floating in its watery grave.  Some bird will come and pluck him and have a feast.

They have sticky grabbers and once they attach, they hold on for dear life.  I caught this one crawling down the screen, probably not long for this world as I don't think they have a life cycle of more than a day or two.  Good riddance dude.

The Good

It is Peony time.  My peonies have started to open and by the looks of the buds, it is going to be another banner year.

The Lupines are opening up too.  I dug up some Lupines at bridge pal Carol's house about 5 years ago.  They spread, which does not bother me, and now I have a pretty good crop.  I'm trying to get them established in the ditch too, but so far have not been successful.  

In the background you can make out the hops, they are doing well and on the climb.  I found 2 volunteer hop vines in the yard.  One by the back deck is really taking off and I'm going to have to find a tall trellis for him to climb.  Another small vine is started next to a tall tree trunk, and I'm hoping he takes off and covers that tall stump.  Sadly, the one by the old ladder, is very slow to get going this year, so I'm going to see if I can find a new plant at the nursery.

Yesterday I added several large clumps of white violets to the ditch project.  It rained overnight and they already look like they are taking hold.  Eventually that ditch will be less weeds and more flowers.

Right now it still kind of ugly, but it is trending towards good with each new plant that I add.

436 days since it got real

 

• New data shows that daily COVID-19 infections in the US are at their lowest point since last June.
• The CDC says the seven-day average has dropped below 30,000 cases.
• The news comes amid more vaccinations, as nearly half the population has received at least one dose.

Not a cub

 I looked out at the rain gauge this morning and it looked empty.  I was swearing because I thought it must have a crack in it and all the rain had leaked out.  But later, when I went out to get the SD card out of the trail cam, I could see that it was completely full, so I emptied over 5 inches of rain out of the gauge!  That will help all the plants in my yard.

I didn't see any evidence of bears on my Wyze cams overnight, but caught one in the backyard on the trail cam.  Not a cub.

Thrift Shop Find

 My friend Mary works at a thrift shop one day a week. The thrift shop proceeds go to the Humane Society. This last week she sent me a text when she was working at the shop saying that a mortar and pestle had come in and it said Coors on it. without knowing much else, I told her I would buy it. She said it wasn't priced but she thought $5 was a good price. I gave her $20 for it. I think it's well worth that plus it is for a good cause.

I don't have one of these small ones. It does not have a single chip on it.  

I have a large white set & a medium cobalt blue glazed set. Now I have the baby set.

The one picture is next to a one cup measuring cup so you can get the idea of the size. My friend Larry who is a serious Coors collector tells me I did okay. 

 

 

I would love to know the story of how this set, manufactured in Golden, Colorado in the 1940's, made its way to Ashland, Wisconsin and now to my cupboard in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  

Life is good.

Planting & Problems x4

 I was going to ditch these hanging planters this year, but then thought I would try herbs.  Basil, parsley, catnip, and 3 others.

The greenhouses were pretty empty today. I got lucky and got the red verbena I wanted for the big pots.  I bought the 16 remaining red verbena, exactly what I needed.

I've had good luck with both Verbena & Surdiva.

I was watching TV tonight and kept hearing a thumping sound, the dryer was running & I thought that was it. Finally, I got up to look.

Guess what, 4 large black bear cubs had to be chased off the deck.  I can see we have bird feeder damage, and one of the bears had a feeder in its mouth as it climbed down. 

Damn.

My Wyze cam got a couple of videos, nothing too excellent, one VERY close up.

Mowing is dangerous

 My lawn got mowed today and it needed it.  My lawn dude only mows, no trimming, so after he was gone, I went out with my push mower to cut in tightly around flower beds and edges.  

I was in the backyard, trying to knock down the tall grass around the Ash trees.  Suddenly, 3 or 4 tiny baby bunnies came flying out of somewhere. I suppose there was a nest in the ground.  I couldn't see a nest or remnants of a nest, so I'm just not sure.

Of course it scared the daylights out of me, but those little babies were truly terrified.  I saw one go running and dive head first into a space between two cement blocks.  I didn't see where the others went.

Hiding in plain sight, for a long time he had his nose deep in the space,
only his little rump was showing.

He got braver and was looking around.  The next time I looked, he was gone.

I know that the recommendation in this case is to leave it to the mother rabbit to gather up the babies again.  I went and looked a couple of times and could not see any babies, so I'm very hopeful that Mom has them corralled and is fixing the mess I made of the nest.

Mother Nature knows best, but digging a nest in the ground does not seem like the best plan.

Moving dirt & birds on the move

Today, I used all but one of the bags of Cowsmo Compost Potting Soil.  I had 9 bags.  It took a bag & 1/2 to fill each of the large decorative pots.  Now I'm ready to get to the greenhouse to buy some plants to fill up those big pots.

One more thing off the list.

  

Ready for Red and White Verbena, assuming I can find some.

After the work was done, Barley and I had some deck time.

She digs it out there.  We spent a little over an hour on the deck.  She was relaxing and taking a bath when I decided I was ready to go in for a shower.

***

I caught a glimpse of this Indigo Bunting the other day but today I got the camera on him.  He's been traveling far, sure is a beauty!

Migration

Long-distance migrant. Indigo Buntings fly about 1,200 miles each way between breeding grounds in eastern North America and wintering areas from southern Florida to northern South America. The birds tend to migrate more or less due south, so buntings that breed in the eastern part of their breeding range also winter in the eastern part of the winter range, while western breeders are western winterers. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/.../Indigo_Bunting/maps-range

Photo bombed by an American Goldfinch

I'm glad he made it back from his journey South.  He's 2 days earlier than 2018.