A Little Gardening

I got out and weeded the flower bed this afternoon. 

For the record, I think Weather Bug lied.  It said 82', but it sure felt hotter than that out there.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but I persevered.

I got the entire bed weeded.

These colors aren't quite true.  Those zinnias are way orangier than this photo shows.  That's what I get for using my phone, but I just didn't want to drag the big camera out there.  Oh, and all that grass at the bottom is outside the flower bed.  I really did weed.  I think tomorrow after work, I'll go get some mulch to put down and the bed will be finished.

The plants on the west end of the bed are really struggling.  That end is lower than the other, and stays soggier.  And wouldn't you know it, it's raining again.  Sigh...

But I digress...those zinnias are really about the same color as this zinnia.  

After I took these photos, I did go back and deadhead everything.   This is just a general photo showing the three purple coneflowers that came back, my Agamemnon, and one of my lantanas. 

And here are my two surviving dahlias.  They still seem to be struggling, but they are hanging in there.  

The one on the left of the photo -- which is really the one on the right because the photo is upside down-- is the one I'm watching.  I think the other one might make it, but I'm not sure about the left one.  If it dies, I'm going to replace it with another of these lantanas. 

My grandma always had these in her flower beds.  I wasn't sure if they were the same plants she had until I smelled the blooms.  They say that memories of scents stay with you the longest.  I don't doubt that, because I recognized the scent of these flowers right away, and I knew then that I'd gotten the right ones. 

And finally, this is the east end of my flower bed. 

This is where I planted my wildflower mix.  I haven't weeded this side at all.  I did that last year, and ended up pulling up some stuff I should have kept.  So this year, I decided that the wildflowers would just have to compete with the weeds until they got big enough that I know for sure which ones to keep. 

I was going to go fishing again this evening, but when I got through working in the garden, I came in and took a shower.  I just didn't want to get all sweaty again, so I stayed home. 

And that's basically all I did today. 

Besides laundry, knitting, paying bills, and watching TV, that is.