What's Bloomin'

Rain actually started to fall last week...and has continued into this week. And it is lovely. Everything has cooled down, we have our windows open instead of the A/C on, and I am much, much happier with summer. At least until the temperatures go up later this week. Argh.

Just to let you know how dry it is here: the paper reported a total of 486 wildfires burning in Utah on Friday morning. That is a large number, to my thinking. And every county in Utah is either in an official drought or in a near-drought. Last year, we had surplus water. There's still a few more days of thunder showers, so I'm hoping for more rain and less lightning...and fewer fires.

Anyway. Here's what's blooming this week...

Gladiolus. Bonnie picked these out last year, and we had both pink and purple. This year we replanted them, and only have purple so far. Hm. They also look like I feel these days...which is due to kids pulling them up after we planted them to ask me (again) what they were. And they didn't get put back in the ground as deeply as they were first planted.

Blue Salvia: I transplanted these from a friend earlier this year. See how brown the other stalks are? That's what most of the transplanted plants look like. But I did get a flower this week - so there is hope!

"Becky" Black-Eyed Susans: These are just so pretty. Maybe it's because we share a name and all, but I feel some serious bonding going on with this flower.

We even had a renegade sunflower pop up this week. We've had so many volunteers from plants we did last year: tomatillos, cilantro, dill, forget-me-nots, black-eyed susans, and now a sunflower. Wahoo. Love that I get more plants without any effort on my part. Wish gardening was like that more often, don't you?

Have a great week - we're half-way through summer vacation! (I know, there are some people not excited that summer is now on the wane, but I'm definitely happy to see school drawing closer...)