A Friday gardening job!

 A few years ago my neighbor Judy gave me a start of a plant called Bears Breeches.  It has the most unusual flower I've ever seen and she generously shared.  Bears breeches can be temperamental, blooming some years and not blooming some years.  So when it happens I feel very fortunate to experience this fantastic flower.  This first plant started a new plant two years ago and now there are two flowers on the news plant and none on the first one. I found three more little plants that need to find a new home since they are hiding under their mother plant.  But where to put them?  This morning I walked all the gardens that are in the sun or part sun since that is the recommendation for their happy place. I found the solution...MORE WORK.  

        A fresh clean place waiting along with a tired body and something new to think about. Susan got yanked.  On the post is the bluebird house full of pine needles.  I hope Mrs. decides to come home.  Mr. is waiting.  Had she been in the nest I could not have evicted Susan.

We live in an addition called Holiday Hills and Dales that once was a farm.  Our house was built where the barn once stood, owned by the Holidays.  Building flowerbeds has its challenges since many of the farm buildings are still evident when we dig, finding foundations not removed.  So we just build around those obstacles.  We've found good soil and bad soil depending on what happened when the land was carved for our current addition.  And as some know we live in CLAY township!  Now you have an idea of what the work was this morning.  After the evicted, I headed to Ace Hardware and bought 50 pounds of sand and a bag of compost and then to Habig for 40 pounds of Gypsum.  The ground that benefited from sand and gypsum until 3 hours ago had been covered with Blackeyed Susans that showed signs of not feeling well.  Now I know why.  They were living in cement-like soil having been there for way too long. They had worn out their welcome and are gone now. With any luck my three new tiny friends in a few days will move to a sunny spot that encourages flowers.  You might google  Bears Breeches to see the flower. 

See one of two buds on the plant that gets afternoon sun.  The none bloomer is anchored in the shade.  Poor thing.  But sometimes it does have flowers.  Not often but sometimes.  The leaves look like thistle leaves but are not prickly.

Doug's shovel goes deeper so he got the job of digging a few blind jonquils.  We'll see if their eyesight comes back.  Blind indicates that there are no blooms.  Something new I heard this year.  Most of these were in the cleared flowerbed buried in that "cement". 

The afternoon continued in the kitchen with c c cookie making.  Neighbor Susie brought us the best cantaloupe a few days ago.  So unusual this time of year..  I'm wondering where itcame from. Indiana Decker melons are the best but they wait till August to appear.  Susie is getting a thank you bowl of cookies.  

Bird count today.  Two Hairy Downys one feeding the other.  Hairy's look like Downy's but they are bigger. We see a few finch birds.  Hummingbirds buzzing around at times. Mr. Bluebird appears again at supper time. The Piliated did not show up that we know of but we have evidence he's been here a lot.  Our huge Maple tree has three sets of rectangle holes. That's a sure sign of a Piliated. 

I think there are seven rectangle holes in this crevis.  There are two more places with holes not as many as the seven.  He's been a busy bird.  Should I be worried?  Don't know for sure.  

It's been a good day.  Tomorrow is Soup Kitchen Saturday.  Busy in the morning and in the afternoon a trip to Wild Birds and then to the Reef.  Something different for sure.