Making the Most of Your Summer Stay-cation

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have to admit to feeling little pangs of envy over other people's summer vacation plans. Everyone seems to be lounging by the pool, or going to the beach. Even camping sounds pretty idyllic to this non-camper, after a year and a half of being stuck at home. But as I am chained to my desk for the rest of the summer--which is flying by--I thought I'd see what I could do to make the most of my stay-cation.

Except for one horrible week in June, the weather hasn't been too bad (at least for north Texas) with temps in the low to mid-nineties rather than high nineties or over a hundred.

My dog knows how to enjoy summer!

 

Well, I'm not rolling in the grass, but she sets a good example, and I could do better. 

My patio is an oasis in the mornings. But I was hardly sticking my nose outside except to water, so I resolved to put up my patio umbrella every morning and just sit for a bit, pretending I'm at an exotic resort.

 

The breeze blows, the fountain burbles, and I even have my own spa! It's amazing what a little cool water can do.

 

I put on my garden hat.

 

I've stocked up on Gatorade. (Which only tastes good when you are really, really hot, but when you are really, really hot, it is THE thing.)

 

I'm smelling the roses. (That's my newest, David Austin's Boscobel. And it does actually smell divine.)

 

I'm reminding myself to enjoy the summer display in the rest of the garden. I do too much work in the spring to just ignore it at the height of its glory.

 

I won't say it's the same as a week in Cancun, but hanging out Chez Debs is not all that bad. Now if an ice cream truck would just come by with a Dreamsicle, it would be perfection...

REDS and readers, how do you do make the most of summer at home?

Garden Time

DEBORAH CROMBIE: April and May are gardening madness months in north Texas. We have to get plants in before blistering heat shrivels them--and shrivels the gardener as well. We spend so much time and effort getting things just right, then hope we can bear to go outside to enjoy the fruits of our labors!

Speaking of fruits of our labors, I made the mistake of mentioning to the lady at the feed store the other day that I'd been gardening like crazy. Wherefore she whipped out her phone and showed me her acres of perfectly tended vegetables. And told me that she would can everything they didn't eat during the season. I slunk away, tail between my legs. My vegetable plot is a half dozen rather sad plants in pots on the south side of the house.

My garden is flowers, mostly native perennials. To recover a bit of self esteem, I thought I'd share it with you. But upfront I have to say that a lot of the credit goes to my fabulous lawn service guy, Agapito, who, although he runs weekly mowing and edging crews, is a true gardener. He does the major digging and planting, the mulching, and this year, the re-graveling of the flagstone walkways and the re-laying of the patio. I just buy stuff and say where I want it. 

I do get some hard graft credit, from two months potting multitudes of flowers (and my few measly veggies.) And every day there is weeding and picking up, etc., etc., etc. My list of garden chores is endless.

In winter, I find it hard to imagine that the garden will ever be pretty again. Especially this year, as we had extended very cold weather, and we lost a lot of plants ($$$$!!!!) But the spring renewal and replanting results are glorious! I have insanely--because we still have rose rosette virus here, and I've lost nearly two dozen vintage roses in the last three years--planted NINETEEN new roses. Send them blessings.

Here are snippets, and I wish the photos came near doing it justice. The garden wraps all the way around the house, so I am just showing you bits of the front and the back. I would invite you all for a garden tour if I could! And tea afterwards!

Two of the three front berms.

Mealy blue sage in the foreground, with Turk's Cap (not yet in bloom), Red Velour crepe myrtles (also not yet in bloom), cannas, coneflowers, and Mexican sage.

Yucca. zexmenia, yarrow, and skull cap in the foreground. The feathery tree is desert willow, adored by hummingbirds.

Red and purple salvia, guara, skullcap, Calla lilly, and winecup. And the ever-present coneflowers.

 

View from the driveway, which will be gorgeous when the Turk's Cap, acanthus, and Black-eyed Susans bloom.

The coneflowers in their bee-infested glory.

The front walk, with new Red Drift roses.

Two of my new David Austin roses, Lady of Shallot (which has yet to bloom) on the left, and Munstead Wood on the right.

   

The newly relaid patio!!! Thank you, Agapito!!! What a job that was!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The patio with everything returned to its proper place.

Deck with pots, my haven.

And the new gas grill, the crowning touch!

We began this garden twenty-two years ago on a weedy, neglected ninety-year-old corner lot. It has grown and aged and evolved. Parts are unrecognizable from the original concept. I've learned, and the plants have taught me. Mostly, it is loved, not only by me, but by the birds and bees and butterflies. And, of course, the German shepherds, and my granddaughter, who is happy to pick the flowers, and can run on the relaid patio without tripping!

How about you, REDS and readers? Do you suffer from gardening fever? Are you growing flowers? Veggies? Or a tomato in a pot?

(I should add that I am always sore, and my nails are always FILTHY...)