Purples & Pinks

It was such a pleasure to read all your happy birthday wishes and comments on my birthday post. Thanks everyone for visiting and leaving such thoughtful comments. I truly appreciate each and every one of you!

We've had a couple of rainy days earlier this week, and another showery afternoon today, so the gardens and lawns are looking happier.

Jasmine has been trying to catch a mouse that's taken up residence in our house. It's cleverly avoided the mouse trap so far, having eaten the peanut butter off it twice, without being caught.

Last night we were startled by lots of noise coming from the kitchen. Jasmine had the mouse cornered! She actually caught it and then put it down after carrying it a few feet. Immediately it ran toward me...Eek! Now I'm not scared of mice, unless they run toward me!! I yelled for Ross to come and all three of us chased that mouse like lunatics! Jasmine caught it again, but let it go once more, at which point it fled for its life into the living room and disappeared. Phooey!

A short time ago, while working on this post, right behind me I heard a scuffle, and there was Jasmine with the mouse in her mouth again! Now this dopey cat either doesn't know what to do with a mouse, or she wants to play with it. I guess it's probably the latter. I grabbed the fly swatter, for want of a better weapon, and Ross appeared from the living room. Once more all three of us excitedly gave chase, but the speedy little mouse disappeared under my computer desk. Yikes! I have to sit there and finish this post!

After much prodding, probing and searching I'm convinced the mouse has made it to a safe haven somewhere in this large house once again ("Phew, that was another close shave", says the tiny pesky beast). I wonder if mice have nine lives, like cats.......

Jasmine continues her vigil as I type away with my feet propped up on the shelf beneath the desk.....just to be on the safe side....

My Jackmanii Clematis has excelled itself this summer, and has been putting on a wonderful show for more than a month now. Its first flowers opened on June 21st.

Here's another Clematis named Sprinkles, just planted last summer. The snails think the flowers are tasty, unfortunately. I'm so pleased that it survived the winter and has grown well for its first year. The Jackmanii took about 3 years to become well established.

I'm amazed at how long the flowerhead is lasting on one of the two hydrangeas we planted in front of the Jackmanii. The other hydrangea has some tiny blooms forming. I wonder if they'll amount to anything.

This Sweet William bloomed with the white Astilbe and Evening Primrose during the last weeks of June. I should've posted a picture of the pink Sweet William, since this is a pink and purple post, but I wanted to show you the Astilbe. It's such a pretty plant. There are marigolds and ageratum just beyond, and you can see the bleeding heart seedpods hanging overhead.

This beautiful pink Astilbe is behind the white in the Bleeding Heart garden. They do well in the shade, alongside the Hostas.

This basket of Rasberry Blast and a deeper pink Petunia, from Proven Winners, has done extremely well so far. The blooms are just beginning to slow up a little now.

My pink Southgate Fuchsia is behind it. This is the one I wanted to try last year but didn't. I don't like it quite as much as the red Marinka, especially against the white siding, and the growth habit isn't as robust, but it's pretty nevertheless, and the hummers are enjoying it. The wintered-over Marinka is on the front porch and just beginning to bloom after being fed a dressing of compost, and plenty of Miracle Grow Bloom Booster.

In the container below are 3 Cameo Pink Surprise Ivy geraniums, 1 Safari Plum Nemesia, 1 Blackie Sweet Potato vine (Ipomoea), and 1 Silver Falls Dichondra, which you can't see in this picture because it's on the other side. I'm very happy with this combination of colors. Click on the picture for a larger version.

Ross made another, larger trellis for these perennial Sweet Peas to keep them from sprawling all over the rose and clematis garden. I'll post some pictures of it soon.

The Lamium is growing in the pink garden and has spread so much that I've had to cut it back. If you want a quick grower and a good ground cover this works well.

We've had a purple finch and his mate visiting our feeder lately. They were here for a while earlier in the spring, but haven't been around in a while. It's good to see them again. I know.... they look red, not purple, but there's a reason for the name, although it escapes me at the moment. I love to listen to their chatter. There's a Gold Finch above him. I love hearing their twittering too.

I captured these last 2 shots close to 8:30 P.M. recently. The hummingbirds are really active at the feeders just before dark, loading up for the night I suppose. We get so much enjoyment from watching them zoom around, buzzing and twittering at each other. There must be quite a few around this summer because they're drinking the sugar water up within a day or two. We only have the Ruby Throated here in the north east.

The'll let me stand very close and will occasionally perch, which allows me to get a clearer shot, but not this night.

We're off to visit Kylie and Ko this weekend. They'll be moving to NY City soon as Ko has a teaching position in the sociology dept. at Columbia University. At least they'll still be in the same state as us!

Have a great weekend everyone!