Memorial Day

I hope you have a peaceful, reflective holiday.

Here, in Wisconsin, It's getting up there in weather: hot and dry. Not yet air conditioning weather (if you manage window closures right), but definitely summer-like temperatures. And so I continue the watering project and thankfully, I finish things up. It takes four, maybe five hours this time, but this includes a break for mowing down the paths with the tractor trailer and, too, it includes moving a few day lilies that have been obscured by a bit of the garden that I've handed over to wild stuff (mostly raspberry canes, anemone and nameless weeds).

All this after a morning walk...

And breakfast. Prolonged. On the porch.

And I swear, this is my last huge effort to put the dozen flower fields and couple of meadows on good footing going into summer. Yes, there will be daily work. Probably spot watering. Lily clipping! And daily tub maintenance and of course, constant endless weed pulling. But I think I'm done with the six hour stretches of work outside. I'm aiming for half that amount each day, until the middle of August, when I cut it back to a paltry one or two, because by then, I will have had enough.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a photo of my foes of the day -- the Bresse girls and Unie, their partner in crime. They have been digging up my transplanted lilies, because they love to lie down in the cool, damp soil. This on top of their munching of alyssum, strawberries, and other favorite annuals! Cheepers, must you?!

Well, at least they leave the peonies alone. The majestic, beautiful stars of a May garden.