We're having a Heat Wave....

a tropical heat wave.......OK, not so tropical with a relative humidity of just 12% but it's definitely a heat wave!  It's supposed to break tonight, and it will as a sustained 20mph wind is blowing with gusts up to 30.  UGH!

That's the kinda bad news.  The other kinda bad news is that nothing much likes the heat wave except my garden!  The flowers are coming and going in one day.  The roses come and go before I know it, but while they are blooming, they are wonderfully beautiful and fragrant.

The rose on the garden arbor.  Remember when I showed the hard pruning this gal got this early spring?  She's happy as can be right now!

The blue spiky flower is a penstemon.  The bees are CRAZY about penstemon, all colors and forms.

Sweet William blooming with Russian sage in the fore ground near by.

I love the rock garden.  

Can't remember the name of this rose but it's really nice this year.

This rose is Mozart and he blooms like mad now and will re-bloom lightly the rest of the summer.

This spiky plant is veronica and the rose is called Dublin Bay.  It's a deep red that is so yummy!

And two of my favorites....Eutin, the red one and the yellow one behind is my all time favorite, Graham Thomas!

A closer look at Eutin.  This will bloom ALL summer and fall, until we have a killing frost.

And here's Graham Thomas being supervised by Leo the cat!

See why I love this rose?  Oh my goodness!!

And speaking of fragrant, the honeysuckle is in full bloom and just about knocks you over with a delightfully sweet smell, especially in the evening when it finally cools down.

Fragrant honeysuckle in full bloom.

Also, a new hired hand showed up this week, and she's done three weeks of work in four days!  I used to work this fast......I think!  Such a treat to have Alicia home for a few days.

Alicia dead heading roses in the yard....

and iris on the iris bank.

And, a few photos of some "pots" that I planted this week following a trip to the plant nursery.  I have a few more annuals to plant, but it's been too hot to put them in.  Hoping that this weekend, with the cool down in temperatures, that I will get them in the ground.

This is such a pretty color geranium.  It's sitting on the east porch, happy as can be!

And, here's one of my weaknesses......succulents.  I love them!  These are my old work boots.  I have a pair or Reynald's tucked away in the yard somewhere.  Hmmmm, where did I put those?

The red currants are almost ready to harvest.  This is one of the jobs that Alicia usually does, right before harvest, but as I've said before, the season is advanced this year.  She will miss picking them as they will be ripe between when she is here now, and when she returns for harvest in a month.

Currants, almost ready to harvest.  It's a time consuming and tedious job.

I am letting the pasture grass go to seed this year, in an attempt to fill in some of the blank spots.  It looks so pretty I think.  I have been walking through, looking to pull weeds that would also like to go to seed and fill in the blank spaces!

Pasture, grass, going to seed.  You can see some of the blank spots that I would like to fill in,.

A closer look at the grass.  It's heavily laden with pollen.

Wow, long post this time!  So much to show and tell!!!  Finally, a puppy in a lilac, searching, searching, searching, for something to chase!