All that's left...

The heat here in Oklahoma as been such that we could not even ride for a few days.  So, whenever we could after the sun would finally go down, we would try to spend some time in our ever fading garden.

Before EVERYTHING got cooked to a frazzle, I decided to snap some pics of what was left and what I did to remediate the the problem. You might remember from our last trip here when Chris and I cut the Crepe Myrtles back to fence height?  Everyone that looked at them said "OMG! You killed them!"...ha.  Well, having done that before and the fact that they had not even had a slight trim for almost 6 years; I knew they would be fine.  Here is what they look like now.  Chris cut the suckers off the bottoms before I shot this picture. These are on the North side of the yard. Notice my flower urn in the forefront?  Nice-eh? ...:-).  There's a story about that urn.  Hang on....

This is taken on the South side of the yard. Most of what was on the North side had to be moved to the south side because it was cooking!  Now, I know that might sound backward, but the South side has a huge Pecan tree and a couple of Oaks and Crepe Myrtles that you can put plants under.  Some still didn't make it through because of the extreme heat.  It was 106 in the shade here!

And here is where I sit most mornings with my "cup -o-joe".  We had some ministry friends over this past weekend and was able to sit outside for breakfast for a short 45 minutes before our meeting started.  It has been raining for 4 days now and was drizzling outside the past Sunday.  Everyone was so glad to see rain, that they wanted to sit outside anyway....:-).  So, we wiped down the table and chairs and ate breakfast on our new furniture.....:-).  It was quite nice, actually.  I still have the thought in my mind to try to plant some creeping thyme in those cracks that the Pecan tree has made...

The pictures loaded in some kind of a random order than what I wanted.  But anyway, here is what is left of my Petunias in this pot.  Petunias will bloom all summer long except for in extreme heat!  So, I decided to help the "view" of this pot with some "perma posies".  Chris's idea.  It was cheaper than having to keep replacing plants that kept dying on us!  Not bad though.....:-).  These are the bird baths that I purchased in British Columbia last year.  I had to remove the water as it turned into a serious breeding ground for mosquitos who LOVE my 0+ blood!  Anyway, the rich purple flowers that you see are the perma posies that I stuck in the pot along with what was left of my Petunia which are the pink flowers on the left.

We spent a considerable amount of time trying to find something for Chris's rock garden.  It is only a tiny section of the garden that sits right under an oak tree.  He planted some small Coleus, Stone Crop(??), and Impatient.  All of which were wilting terrible.  So, I stuck some daisy in it...:-).  But I might change those out for something a little less..."loud".

This is a close up of one of my Crepe Mytle that was starting to bloom. In the background pot is a Geranium.  I have found that I really don't care for those as they require constant attention....

Under the Pecan tree is a yellow Rose that is still in the pot.  I didn't take it out because every Rose with the exception of one that I put in the ground started to die on me!  You can barely see the little yellow roses because I stuck a couple of Blackeyed Susans in the pot with them...Sorry about the blurr....:-(.

ok, back to the North side of the garden.  You may remember this little statue of a girl reading a book that I purchased in Canada last year.  Well, I think I have found a final place for her (at least temporarily...ha), by the child's gate that we snagged at an antique store on our last visit.  One of the rose bushes that we purchased is in the pot on the ground.  You wouldn't know it was a rose for all of the damage that the sun as done to it. I don't know what the plants where that I stuck in with that one. And the pot on the stand is what is left of the Petunias that were growing there.  I stuck some Gerbera Daisies in the pot with them and cut them back some....
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Here is the remaining rose bush that was thriving a bit and then started to wain away last week.  I thought I would help it out with some pick flowers that I found.  The color matched almost perfectly.  I have been debating about painting the old fence, but can't seem to decide on a color for it.....??  Any ideas??

And this is the center of the yard toward the west fence.  the tiny lights come on at night and look very pretty when we are sitting out there.  The motorcycle people seem happy enough...ha.

The story about this urn is that we read that if you put empty water bottles in the bottom of your pots before filling them with dirt, it cuts down on a lot of weight when and if you have to move them.  The challenge that I have found is that: 1. You need plants with shallow roots to do this. 2.  If you are using plastic urns like I did, it will get a bit warmer inside.

Anyway, all of the urns had Geranium, Vinca, Verbena and Lobelia.  The Lobelia which were deep purple (almost blue in color) started to cook away.  I trimmed them and some of them began to bloom again, but others just died.  I replaced with a couple of these purple flowers.  I have no idea what they are, but you saw a close up of them in the birdbath.  I also incorporated some of these tiny carnation looking flowers.  The pink helped the urns not to look so sad.....
  

this very old vanity that my daughters used when they were pre-teens was finally put out into the yard since they are both in their 30's now.....:-).  It used to be yellow in color, but just in the short time that it was outdoors, it has faded and started to crack.  I think it adds some charm to it....:-).

 My youngest gave me the angel statue with the children a few weeks ago for the garden.  She has been moved several times trying to find the right spot for her.  The drawers used to have trailing petunia in them until they were all killed by the heat and ended up in our compost bin....:-(.  I have no idea what the flowers are that I stuck in a remaining pot  sitting on that vanity, but I thought the deep purple was a nice touch.  It put some color in that part of the garden.

I might repaint it next year a yellow color of some sort.  Haven't decided yet.....

 You may also remember these motorcylce people that we picked up on our way back from Texas several weeks ago.  This is "Willie the wild rider".....

and "Reckless Ranita"  his riding companion.  I had to double check and make sure she actually had a top on before purchasing her.....geeze...

And this is where we sit in the evenings watching the sun go down and waiting for all of those lights to start coming on.....:-)

  Hope you enjoyed the tour....:-)