Just a perfect pair of gingers. That is all.

Finally – here we are to the story of my not-as-planned weekend.

The original plan was to spend Saturday, which was supposed to be nice and comfortable weatherwise in the garden – mostly just weeding. And then Sunday, which was supposed to be hot, sticky, and disgusting, inside sewing – finishing Burton’s quilt, making a couple more blocks for my red quilt, and maybe starting on something new.

Saturday got started off as planned more or less. Dave and I were up fairly early, taking some yard waste to the transfer station (branches and stuff that’s too big for my yard composter). We ran a few errands while we were out, so I got into the gardens a little later than planned.

I’m not obsessive about weeding. I don’t worry about getting every little last sprout that shouldn’t be there -but I do like the garden to look tended to, and it was to far past that point for my liking. I started out front because that’s where most of the shade was. Eventually, I worked my way across, almost to the holly bushes, and decided there was an issue I could no longer ignore.

I believe I mentioned earlier this year, that the foxgloves had reseeded. I decided to let the seedlings do their thing in situ, and then move them about later when the time came.

Well dear readers… the time had come….

ALLLLLL of those are foxglove seedlings. And that’s not even all of them. There was probably double that amount spread out around the left side of the front garden.

So weeding got set aside, I got out some garden pots and started potting the little guys up so I could decided where to put them later.

I dug and potted and dug and potted and then I ran out of pots!

And I still had a pile left in the garden! (There’s some pink sage mixed in there too because it re-seeded as well!)

I needed somewhere to put them, ASAP.

There was one place in the garden left that was still “wild” and needed to be developed.

It was the space behind the holly, but in front of the new gate… basically, just a weed patch. It gets some morning sun, but overall is mostly shade. But… foxgloves are forest edge plants… it could be the ideal plant for the space. It’s very similar to under the willows by the shed… and the fox glove there went crazy this year.

So I got weeding and repotting got set aside while I went to work clearing out all that… mess. It included quite a few maple and mulberry seedlings that were established enough that they needed to be dug out. Eventually though I did get it down to bare ground. But by then it was dinner time.

I was in no shape to cook, so I took Dave out for a burger, and we ended up at Home Depot. While there I grabbed a couple more Hostas, another Astilbe and a big Sedum that were all on clearance, as well as some stones for another project (more on that another day). And by then, the day was shot.

I knew I was going to have to do more work on Sunday, cutting into sewing time. I got up bright and early to tackle it, before things got to hot. And as I prepared the ground for the new plants, I noticed that the downspout, which had previosuly been hidden by holly and weeds, was broken and needed to be fixed and directed away from the foundation.

Off to the local hardware store we went! We also picked up some mulch (which Home Depot didn’t have the night before.) By the time we got back it was past noon – and far too hot work outside.

I retreated to the sewing studio to finish Burton’s quilt. And after dinner, though it was still hot, I headed back outside to finally finish the area up.

I planted the Hostas, the Astilbe and the Sedum, and all those little green sprouts…

Those are all little wee foxgloves. I probably planted about 40 of them in that space. If this experiment works, this areas is going to be amazing when they bloom next year!

You can see, all I could get was red mulch… I’m not thrilled with that, but I can cover it with black mulch next year. It looks tidy and will help keep the weeds down while the foxglove get rooted.

And you might have spied something else in that corner…

I’ve named him Todd. He was at Home Depot and I couldn’t resist. Luckily, Dave didn’t have any problem with him following us home. He likes tortoises just as much as I do!

And so… while the weekend didn’t go as planned, I’m still pretty pleased with what I managed to accomplish. And I can always finish that weeding this weekend!

The only thing that went as planned on the weekend was the finshing of Burton’s August Sunflower quilt.

Sunday afternoon, I got it sandwiched and quilted (just stitching in the ditch to outline the flowers, then some straight lines around the blocks). And bound it up Sunday night.

By Monday morning, Burton was sitting pretty. I think those sunflowers add a nice bit of cheer to that corner of the livingroom.

And Burton seems pleased. Though I know he wants me to get started on one for September! It’s just over a week away! Yikes!

It was another one of those weekends that got away from. I made some good accomplishments, but very little of it were the ones I planned.

For instance, the only tiny needle that got plied this weekend was a teeny tiny quilting needle…

… as I worked under the snoopervision of these two, finishing the binding on the sunflower quilt. But more on that tomorrow – and the rest of my weekend adventure the day after.

While the beetles have been the bane of the garden, the delight has been these guys.

The monarch caterpillars had a bit of a rough start. When the Common Milkweed was in bloom, the flowers attracted ants. And the ants killed all the caterpillars that had hatched at that time. I didn’t have the same problem with the swamp milkweed, which is interesting.

However, after the the flowers died away, the ants disappeared and new hatchlings have fared better.

I’ve seen several start to leave the milkweed, which they only do when they are getting ready to build their coccoons. I haven’t been lucky enough to find any of those yet… but I hope that maybe one of two of the dozens of monarchs that have flitted through my garden…

… are from the caterpillars that hatched and fed on my milkweed.

Apparently, only 10% of monarch eggs survive to become monarchs. There are lot of hazards out there, from ants to parasitic wasps, birds to toads to….

Lemmy!!!!!

I’ve talked to Dave, and next year, we’re going to build a butterfly enclosure so I can raise them in a more controlled environment to give them a better chance. It won’t protect them from Lemmy… but it should help with everything else!

I know there’s a lot of buzz around right now about the second Beetle Juice movie, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. This is my kind of beetle juice…

I mentioned several posts back about my battle with the dreaded Japanese beetles. Every day, I go around the garden to do battle with the pests. I got out usually at least three times – once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening, and I pick the beetles off my plants, and put them in this bowl of water, mixed with a little dish soap. I pick off about this many beetles almost every single day.

Why do I do this?

Because this is what they do to plants. And many of their favourites are my favourites too. Especially my roses.

They also love the pussy willows, the raspberries, the hyssop, the coneflowers and the butterfly bushes. It’s a constant battle. I won’t say I’m winning, but things would be much worse if I did nothing. Next year, I’m going to try nematodes on the lawn, to see if I can reduce the population by attacking the grubs before they emerge as beetles. The problem is though, these little jerks fly… so they come in from all over.

As much as the soil here is better for my roses than the townhouse, I definitely have more insect issues. The other big problem I have are these jerks.

They are Sawfly larvae. And like the Japanese Beetles, the best way to keep them in check is manually pick them off. The problem is, they start out really small, and can do a lot of damage before they get big enough to easily see.

Despite these troubles, the roses are doing pretty well this year.

Those last two pics are of the newest- Prairie Princess. She’s such a pretty shade of pink, and a very welcome addition to my collection.

While last Saturday was raining, and spent in the studio. Sunday dawned relatively mild and sunny. I knew I had to get out and get some yard work done. Since Dave had finished the new fence, I really had to get moving on the landscaping to make it a usable space.

You will recall it looked like this:

I don’t have the time and resources to do the whole space at once, so I decided to focus on the area along the fence line, connecting it up to the existing border garden. First, I had to clean out at least 3 years of dead leaves and sticks. Happily, all those leaves meant there was nothing but bare ground underneath them, so I didn’t have to do much to prepare for planting.

I fillled the area with the hostas and heuchera I’d bought earlier – keeping them in the shadiest positions. The bugbane and astilbe got planted closer to the drip line, as did a new dark pink tickseed, and a purple pincushion plant I managed to get on clearance last week.

I also got Dave to install hook so I could hang the basket of impatiens I got.

After that, it was just a matter of moving in my bench, and table and chairs, providing a couple places to relax and enjoy the shade,

Much more will come next year, but for now, it provides a nice shady spot to enjoy a view of the yard, all the way down to Willow Grove at the very back.

Despite how it might seem in the picture above, Rupert seems to be healing very well. The incision, as terrible as it looks, is healing quite nicely, staying dry and clean. It helps that he can’t lick it, but he seems to be staying away from scratching it too, though that may change as it heals more. We got a soft cone thing just incase it becomes a problem.

It’s been a week since the surgery, and he’s finished with the painkillers and gabapentin (used to keep him calm and stress-free). All that’s left is the anti-biotic which he’s getting daily. He still hates that part, but there’s only a week to go. (Halfway there!!!). As long as it’s not raining, he spends the day sleeping in the catio… which is what he did before the surgery.

The sutures are supposed to dissolve/fall out on their own, but if they don’t, we take him in next week and they will remove them. I hope they come out on their own though… both he and I have had enough of getting him in the carrier to last for quite a while!

The other day, Dee had a post all about sunflowers. And if I had to pick a flower that represented August, it would be the sunflower.

I started several sunflower seeds earlier this year. And thanks to the squirrels…. not one of them made it past a sprout!

But also thanks to the squirrels (I’m assuming), this giant volunteer showed up in my garden on the corner of Willow Grove. Well… it didn’t just show up, I’ve been watching and tending to it for a couple months now. But it’s only the last couple of weeks that it’s really gone crazy. For reference, I’m about 5’7″… and it’s about a foot taller than me. It’s got one big head at the top… but also dozens that are sprouting off the sides.

The top head has finally just opened

And the others won’t be too far behind. It’s going to be just spectacular. And while it’s blooming outside…

Saturday was mostly raining, so I couldn’t get out to do my garden work I had planned (more on that this weekend). So instead, I stayed in the studio and made sunflowers. Why, you ask… well as I said…. sunflowers are the ultimate symbol of August to me.

And someone just happens to be in need of an August quilt for his chaise…

Hopefully I get another rainy day this weekend to quilt it. He is obviously a little impatient!

We’ve come to the last quilt in the quilt parade… one I don’t think Lemmy wants me to put in the shop.

And I have to admit, it does compliment his fur quite nicely.

This, of course, is the baby quilt made with the adorable “Eat Your Veggies” fabric line. Using a jelly roll meant this one went together super quick.

I love the colours and the cute little dino quilts! As much as I love making scrap quilts, I still love making them with coordinating fabrics too.

And despite how much Lemmy wants this one… it is in the shop, just waiting for a dino and veggie-loving baby.