After A Downpour

I've never seen thunderstorms like this before. For the last few days we have been in the path of several mini-thunderstorms a day. Mostly it is dark clouds and thunder that threaten for a while and then move on. Blue sky returns until the next one washes by. Maybe there is a little sprinkle, maybe not. They are so small you need a direct hit with the center to get any rain.



This afternoon we got a direct hit and some needed rain, a half inch in about twenty minutes.



Once the sun came back out it was time for an evening stroll, to see what I might see.



The Monarda didyma, Bee-Balm, in the sunny utility meadow is beginning to bloom. This is one of the hummingbirds favorites. Their aerial acrobatics will be moving down here shortly.



I saw it then I ate it. It was freshly washed.



I saw it then I ate it. It was freshly washed.



I saw it then I...


started moving slowly so I wouldn't scare it. I wasn't hungry anymore. It is nice to be able to have a small salad while touring the gardens.



Let's compare shells to the box turtle I saw across the road and up the hill at Client # 2's back in April. What do you think, different turtle?



Something not good has been going on with one of my Blue Star Junipers. This guy was tucked inside, but I don't think a snail is the problem. It seems more like something heavy stepped on it. I flung the snail into the woods anyway.



I may not need to slowly fill the hole as Madame Stappers grows. These hard down pours every so often seem to be doing a fine job. I do need to reconsider seeding the whole hillside with grass seed again. The late sowing last year may be the reason for such a poor return of the grass this spring. The hillside is amazingly stable, but bit by bit each hard rain sends a little more of it down hill. Grass seed. Add it to the list.



The Black-Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia, looks fine after a hard downpour.



The skies clear to reveal the distant mountains are still there.