Summer is Winding Down

Several weeks ago we began the saga of the rebuilding of our deck. Apparently they had decided last winter before we moved in that it was time for it to be refurbished and rebuilt, but we were still in the rainy season, so they put it off until this summer.

They did a really nice job of it, although it was stretched out for longer than I was happy about because the workers kept being pulled off of my job and sent to ready another living space for new residents.

I appreciate that, BUT I was not happy that they moved all my plants off the deck, took the steps apart, and then quit working on it. I couldn’t easily get to my plants (I would have had to walk all the way around the house) in order to water them. Anyway, I finally got to them when they were almost dead from lack of moisture, and I’ve been trying to baby them back into blooming, but they still (after a week or more of TLC) look a little sad.

The verbena seems to have succumbed and the petunias are dried up.

The begonia is still not doing very well.

Although this begonia has mostly recovered. The trailing things are coming along fine, but the cone flowers are pretty well gone.

And the window boxes/rail boxes are not doing well at all.

They have probably reached then end of their really pretty blooming life, so I’m starting to think about replacing them with fall color.

I got a couple of pots of chrysanthemums yesterday, and the nursery says more will be in next week. I’m seeing visions of orange, and rust, and yellow, and gold.

I’m a little frustrated though, because many of my potted plants are perennials, and I hoped to keep them until next year. I’ve been asking for some help creating a flower bed back by the fence, but they say they’re going to replace the fence this summer, and I don’t want to bother with planting stuff out there if the workers are going to trample all over it while they’re working on the fence. Apparently the fence is in line behind my deck, and I’m beginning to wonder if it will be done in time for me to plant some bulbs for spring.

We just have this bare expanse of fence (yep, one of the sections blew down a year or more ago, and it was replaced but never painted). It would be much nicer to have that space occupied by blooming flowers and ferns. I guess I can always do it next year if I don’t get it done in time for plant spring bulbs.