This prunus mume ' peggy clarke ' , one of two I have in my garden, will always remind me of my gardening buddy who sold it to me. " What other tree will bring you cheer in the midst of winter, " she asked. She was the most cheerful, loving and charitable person I know. One sad day this month she decided to end it all, leaving behind a multitude of friends and family. Our grief was overwhelming.
As expected July brought many extremely hot and humid days with no rain in sight. Temperatures over 100 degrees for a week at a time.
Despite the heat some flowers, such as this 'Little Gem ' magnolia actually bloomed. The most drought-tolerant flowers in the roadside garden are the goldenrods, asters and ornamental grasses.
Harvested some tasty tomatoes, okra and zuchinni from the veggie garden. Strawberries are still putting out fruit. I harvested 20 white peaches from my semi-dwarf tree and they were very sweet.
We added an outdoor enclosure to the chicken pen so the girls could have room to roam .
Today, the oldest girl, Henrietta started clucking like a mad hen and when I went to see what the matter was I found the first egg ! It was small and brown. This is early as she is only 5 months old. Then a few hours later I found a second egg. I had to hurry and assemble her nesting box since there are 3 other girls who might want to peck or even eat the eggs. The nesting box allows the eggs to roll down to a collection box to avoid this.
Farewell, July. Looking forward to lower humidity and temperatures and hoping we get them !
