Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

We had a big rainstorm come through last night, with lots of wind. This is relatively uncommon for this time of year here in the PNW. A normal summer means no rain after the Fourth of July. I went out this morning for a walk-around, to see what survived.

First, The Good:


This annual poppy, which I think is Imperial Pink, from seeds that Catherine of A Gardener in Progress shared, looks quite pretty with water droplets.





Another annual poppy, called 'Drama Queen' was leaning on a nearby Monarda.

'Drama Queen' looking a bit windblown



This annual poppy, about to open, seemed to survive intact.



I think this one is going to be a peony-flowered poppy.




Many of these deep purple poppies were laying all over, every which way. A couple are still standing tall, though.





This Mariposa lily was bent down to the ground. 



This native plant has very long stems. I'm not sure if that is a feature of the plant, or if it's because of where they are planted. Others were in better shape, but still leaning over, supported by their neighbors, a tangle of stems.





The Bad: I found the neighbor's cat, Luci (short for Lucifer) chewing on my Pennisetum 'Karley Rose'. I noticed the other day that it was looking rather chewed up. I guess this is the reason. But I have quite a few clumps of this, and this one is still flowering, so I don't mind sharing.
Bad Luci!


The Ugly: The storm brought down a couple of big branches on my pear tree (at least I think it's a pear tree, we've never seen fruit).


That's quite an ugly scar!
Hmm...it didn't have the best shape before this, now it's even worse. I think the previous owners topped it, which is not a good tree-care practice.

Well, the sun is coming out now, so I think I might go for a walk.