My fingers hurt!

Too much gardening!  We took advantage of the cooler (relatively) weather this weekend to do some heavy gardening and yard work.  At two houses.  I am soooo tired, but it feels good (except for the hands).  :-)

I've been taking advantage of the plant sales everywhere.  I guess there has to be some perks to starting a garden so late in the season.  Especially as it means working in the North Carolina summer heat.  Urgh.  I'm very glad for all our trees and the shade they provide!  I've added some colorful annuals to the mailbox garden.   I think (hope) it will fill in nicely.

And finally got plants into the raised garden.  Mostly perennials, but some 50 cent petunias and verbena around the edges and a nice big pot of nicotiana.

Yes there is still a big pile of extra dirt next to the garden, and yes the lawn (sparse as it is) desperately needs mowing.  After all the compost adding, planting and mulching I just didn't have the strength to think about the dirt.  And the lawnmower won't start.  Darn it.

But I'm loving my new plants.  I had better like them.  Since we haven't had much rain I'm going to be out there watering them....lots!   The first time The Tramp told me I looked as happy as a kid in a sandbox I was sitting in the dirt in the middle of a new garden.  :-D 

Gaura

Phlox

Coneflower

Coreopsis

The wildlife kept me company too.  This tiger swallowtail (thank you Nancy) was busy doing something and let me take lots of pictures. 

There are dragonflies of every description but they don't normally sit still long enough for a photo.

And this cicada was resting after busting out of it's larval shell (also hanging on the plant).  When my girls were small we had several big years for cicadas and they would collect all the brown shells they could find.  So we've always called cicadas "shell bugs."  (click if you want to see detail)

And of course, the bees were busy.

My SIL (LZF) was visiting again last week, still looking for jobs down here.   He brought down a few belongings on his trailer.  He is very proud of his do-over of a small boat trailer, but he was concerned about not being able to see the trailer in his rear view mirror without a load on it.  So we visited a few stores looking for something to add to the back of the trailer.  And the cheap fix turned out to be........

Yardsticks!  You can't beat it for 60 cents each.  So four yardsticks, some neon orange duct tape and a few screws and he was good to go.

So now the gardening is over for the time being (except for the watering...sigh) I will return to the sewing room.  I added another row to the Whistle Stop mystery quilt (on the design wall in the background) and I ordered some fabric for curtain valences and background for my Dear Jane.  I am finally going to start a Dear Jane.  Yippee!  Thank goodness this box only contained fabric.  It looks like UPS tried to make an accordion out of it.  :-)

I have four t-shirt quilts in the works too.  Argh.  No rest for the weary!