Flowers from the Garden: The Last of the Black Eyed Susans and a New Favorite

I am intent on enjoying these last few summery days although we have technically started the fall this year. My garden has a few more blooming plants. The black eyed susans- one plant is back from last year and has tripled in size and I got a few new plants in the ground this month in hopes that they will also come back big next summer. Another, my new favorite, the purple butterfly bush- which has been growing like a weed. Technically some varieties of the butterfly bush are considered a weed and are not even allowed to be planted in certain states. But I find them to be lovely, and this bush is filling in the corner of our lot (and my flower arrangements) quite nicely.

The Deck Continues

Tony and his dad have been working tirelessly on the deck project! A few pictures below...

Deck Footings

We poured the concrete footings for the deck last week. Tony needed a fourth man so I jumped in to help out. Unfortunately this meant that I was not able to get any pictures of the cement pouring process. Here are a few pictures after the cement was poured :)

The Deck Begins

Tony and his dad, Terry, have begun the holes for deck posts. No turning back now :)

Evening Gardening

It's been hot around these parts lately (for Seattle that's low to mid 80s). I'm not complaining but it is difficult to take a 3 month old outside when it is bright and sunny because they overheat and they don't take kindly to sun protective clothing like hats. In addition, Iris doesn't really have a napping schedule. So I can't really get much done in the yard unless I've got someone around to watch her.

I picked up some compost a few weeks ago and this last bag has been waiting to go into a corner of the yard since then. I just left it sitting on the grass in an attempt to kill some more of our dreaded lawn. This evening it cooled off to a perfect temperature and Iris was in one of those happy moods-content to play with her own hand quietly- so I seized the chance to do some weed/wildflower clean-up and get the compost down.

Iris was quite content to lounge on a blanket in the grass while I completed my chore.  It looks a lot better than when I started and now I don't have to look at that last bag of compost every time I come in and out of the house! :)

Time to Build a Deck

Tony has plans to tackle a very big project this next month. A new deck! I snapped a picture of the plans before he ran off to the DPD Office today. Hopefully he'll get the permit by the end of the week and the building can begin! This is the largest house project he has taken on yet so wish us luck as we dive in :)

Garden Interloper...

A few weeks ago I noticed a squash plant growing in the midst of the Fairy Garden flowers I had planted from seed. I'm thinking there may have been a stray seed in that packet, or perhaps it flew in from a nearby garden. In any case, it was doing quite well in the little corner of our yard despite the fact that the dogs seemed to favor that spot for potty breaks.

My Fairy Garden flowers are starting to die down now and I just noticed today that we've got a rather large green pumpkin. Not really large relative to the pumpkins you can pick up at the grocery store but it is big for me to just now be noticing that it was growing. (I guess that's how gardening goes when you have an infant :))  I'm rather pleased about the whole thing. I bought three little pumpkin starts on the day I ended up going into labor so they didn't make it into the ground for about a week. They've never grown and I thought we would be pumpkin-less again this fall. By the looks of it we are assured at least one!