A Big Lightening Show

Dark out there tonight, with much lightening!  Everyone is jumpy here not just because of the tornado in tiny Reading, but the terrible storm that hit Joplin on Sunday and has killed so many.  It will be a while before anyone around here fails to take the weather seriously.  Right now the newsmen are on, talking about the tremendous lightening.

I've battened the hatches down, and Keith is out in the state car monitoring the radio in case he has to go somewhere to help tonight.

I took a few minutes after putting all the birds to bed to take some pictures of the garden bed built last year.  We are building another across the arbor this year, but it is a work in progress.

A certain naughty red girl, who had her shots, her grooming and her nails clipped today, did this!  It was a premium iris, and a large daylilly.  Both should grow back.  Pink poppies also bit the dust, but the orange are blooming now.

There is a group of Iris here, planted high like they like to be.  I'll mulch them Friday when I'm off.

At the back of this picture is a transplanted Hollyhock, and I am thinking it probably won't bloom this year, but my gosh, it sure took root well.  Just behind (click to enlarge) is a clematis, growing on the obelisk I got at TJ Maxx for 22.00. 

The arbor to the right will have cypress vine again, they reseeded themselves and are already growing at the base.  There is another arbor to the right of this, and I planted thunbergia alata there. 

Across the arbor to the left (the one the rake is leaning against) is the new bed, just as long.  It is still in rudimentary form, and we hope to put the walls up this weekend.  Keith wanted to do stone again.. it's beautiful, but costly and heavy.  I asked him just to do wood, which works just as well and is much easier to handle.  There is a peony in it, and some sedum, but that's it, so far.  I received an offer today at work of a bunch of divided perennials, so it may be put into use sooner rather than later.

I had to shut down in the middle of this piece because the storm got so bad... so I will close now and say a prayer for the other families affected tonight in this wild spring weather we are having. 

One last picture:

Yes, there are gaps, but there are things growing back there, and I want to give them a chance.  I also have two butterfly bushes (one barely visible) and another bush doing very well against the fence. 

Potted annuals have grown so high this year that I am back to planting seed, and having fun watching it come up! 

The storm is letting up a little, so the little girls and I are going to bed while Keith monitors the radio for a while longer.