Greetings again from Susie's Gardens;
Well all the rain has finally subsided. We ended up with about four inches-more than seven for the month of June. The James was running high as were all rivers and creeks from the north and west, because of all the rain there. The James crested at about 16 feet, four feet above flood level, but that was mild compared to northern Virginia, DC, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. They really got hit. I made a smart remark about DC needing a good flushing; of course I was referring to the politics. My weak attempt at humor. There was much damage and some deaths (12) from the flooding which was no laughing matter.

     Last weekend was the Champ car race at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland. Back in 1948, Dad, Mom, Rocky and I (I was 11 ) took a trip by motorcycle sidecar from Milwaukee, through Battle Creek, Mi to Detroit, under the St. Claire River to Windsor, Ont., to Niagara Falls, through Buffalo, NY, and ultimately to Cleveland to see the Air Show and Air Races, that were held at this airport. Trip covered something like 1500 miles in a three day period. Saw the P-80 Shooting Star, the first working military jet, but also watched Bob Hoover and another pilot whose name escapes me again-Tony something-dive a bright red P-38 Lightning from out of sight straight up, down on the airport. Saw lots of other military aircraft and the races-mostly P-51 Mustangs and Lightnings as I recall. The "P" designation was for "Pursuit" which was later changed to "F" for :Fighter."

     The day lilies are exploding; oranges, reds, yellows, pinks, purples and various combinations of all. More gladiolus and oriental lilies are blooming and the phlox are beginning already. The bright red cannas stand about seven feet tall. I had seen the hummingbird at the monardas, so I cleaned out the feeders and put fresh sugar water in them. Within a short time I had one at one of the feeders and then saw a second one. This usually indicates they are done nesting and will now be regular visitors to the feeders. The male becomes very protective of his feeding grounds, even chasing house finches from the feeders and goldfinches from the flowers. Despite the heat we worked in the yard again Saturday trying to wrap up loose ends, trimming, pruning, and mowing. I had tied up my tomatoes Friday and started side dressing the various plants with fertilizer, and screwed up something in my back as I tried get through all the cages, stakes, and plants. Hurt like the dickens to sit down and get up or to even move. So I went out again Saturday and did some more fertilizing, trimming, and mowing, and it seems to be getting better. Go figure. For some reason all my plants look a little anemic. I thought I was going to get a bunch of summer squash but I have mostly male blossoms again. I've been plagued with this for about four years now. Used to be I could throw seed in the ground and grow bushels full of squash. Well, it's still too early so I'll be patient. Could have been the drought that sometimes prevents bees from fertilizing-I don't know. Too much rain has a similar effect. Same with tomatoes although they don't need bees; they are wind pollinated.

     The old mockingbird was singing at 2:30 a.m. yesterday. He is quite a specimen. Loudest and most active singer and guardian of his territory I've seen in a while. He has big wings with big white wing patches and a large flaring tail with big patches. He moves from perch to perch often and is a master at a number of calls. His brown thrasher and catbird cousins are more secretive although the catbird has his days too. The house wren I think is starting a second brood. The male is singing regularly. More and more butterflies and dragonflies showing up. We have so many different types of insects, I wish I could ID them. Saw a young praying mantis a couple days ago. We have had asparagus beetles the last few years. I was back in the patch watching a wasp -which is a regular around asparagus. I suspect it's a parasitic wasp of some kind, maybe laying eggs in the beetle larvae because I haven't seen any this year. The eggs hatch in the larval host and they have their first meals. While I was watching the wasp-close up-I saw something move on the feathery stem toward the tip of the asparagus plant. It looked like a tiny yellow thread, but then it looped, that is, brought its rear forward forming a loop, and then moved its fore part ahead. I tried to break off that tip but, clumsy me, it shook the tiny caterpillar off. The wonders of Creation are endless!

     Greetings to Family and Friends from Susie's Gardens;
Wow! What color we have in the backyard. Most if not all daylilies are in bloom. The hibiscus are blooming-a pink with a red center on the south edge and a huge deep red one at the back fence. This one has blossoms that are at least nine inches in diameter. Some get a little ragged because the Japanese beetles are eating them. There are more gladiolus too-bright red in color, more red cannas, all the phlox, more calla lilies, oriental lilies, and some balloon flowers blooming. I think the white lily (cultivar Muscadet) and the red gladiolus are the surprises of the year. Susie had to plant the lily bulbs in a wire cage with small stones (Vole Block) around it and on top so the voles couldn't get at them. Susie's gardenia on the south side of the house had dozens of blossoms this year and is still going. It's the plant with nine lives. It's died back at least twice due to freezing, has had some sort of insect eating on it, has been transplanted at least three, maybe four times. One year we had it in a big planter and would haul it in the utility room on predicted freezing nights. Sooz finally moved it to the south side where it is warmer and more protected and it's been doing good. I bought it many years ago on Eastern Shore. We are on the very edge of its northern range.

     Out front Susie finished her 5 X 7 brick patio. It looks good with an iron bench on it and two cement pots with flowers on the corners. We also picked up a larger bird bath for the backyard. I took over the smaller one and put it near the vegetable garden. The white crape myrtles are blooming out front. The robin was nesting in the smaller one. The smallest one started blooming first. It was planted about four years after the other six along the front. People like to come up with names of their residences with plant or tree names in them; little towns too. We have Seven Pines, Five Oaks; back in Wisconsin we had the Lone Elm Cheese Factory. We have seven Crape Myrtles but "Seven Crapes" doesn't sound very classy. We could call our home "Holly Row" but that sounds like a movie star. I was always going to make up a big sign copy of the cheapest place in the Monopoly game card-Baltic Avenue, but Susie didn't go for it. No sense of humor!

     Something or someone has done in "my" mockingbird. He went suddenly silent on the Fourth of July and I suspect someone dispatched him. I have occasionally heard the report of a pellet gun from time to time in the lot behind us and to the south. Because they sing all night some people don't appreciate them. I remember at our first home we rented on Route 360 at Westhaven Lake a few miles from where we are now. The bedroom was upstairs on the west (late sun) side and had a fake porch outside the bedroom window, complete with a railing. We didn't have AC and slept with the windows open, although with a fan. A mocker would sit on that railing and sing all night. We didn't sleep much in summer at that place. I was a zombie for two months out of the year. I remember getting a thermometer from work and put it in the room. On the worst days it never got below 89 degrees.

     One day a week ago I looked out the back door and noticed a pair of cardinals on the patio furniture, then on the patio. The male was looking about for something, when the female got up on one of our little tables. The male flew up to her and offered her a small dried wisteria leaf. She dropped it but flew down and picked it up again and followed the male. He picked up another and she accepted that too. This is a little courtship ritual they go through; usually it's a seed or some tidbit of food. Apparently they were working on a second brood. I'm quite sure the catbirds are nesting in the Harry Lauders Walking Stick (contorted hazel tree). The brown thrashers make an appearance every now and then, especially at the dirt pile over the old maple location. Thrashers like dust baths.

     The hummingbirds are about and active, zooming up and down and around, often chasing the goldfinches. They have a wide variety of food sources with all the feeders, the monarda, salvia, cannas, nicotiana, gladiolus, gaura, Rose of Sharon, phlox, and zinnias. On a couple occasions I was checking the garden when one of them-a female or a young-of-the-year male - buzzed me and hovered within a couple feet of my face, for quite some time. Then it proceeded to feed off of the red salvias I have lining my vegetable garden, feeding from the far end right up to a few feet in front of me. The goldfinches too have a lot to choose from. Zinnias, helianthus, coreopsis, coneflowers, verbenas, and one lone sunflower (that grew from a single seed the birds missed last winter) are all producing seeds

     The vegetable garden is producing too. I worried about summer squash but its coming on now, although we again need rain. I've picked one meal of green beans and picked more this weekend. We're getting a few grape and cherry tomatoes, and the green peppers are forming and almost ready to pick. The okra (okri?okrum?okras?) is slow but are/is coming on at the right time. They are next to the beans and the beans will be done by the time they get up to producing levels. There's an old saying in the south that "even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while!" Well, sometimes I plant things that work out without thinking. I planted two types of green beans-Early Contender which matures in about 45-48 days, and Blue Lake which matures in about 55-57 days. I can pick from the early beans and still have some fresh ones coming later, instead of planting a row later. All beans should be done by the end of July and the okra and squash on the other side will have plenty of room. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good!

     We were at Barry and Amy's last week to do some babysitting while they could have a getaway for a night. Barry had won a free night's stay at a luxury hotel complete with a free breakfast. All went very well. Sooz got to change diapers again. Little Zoe went with Barry and Amy and we got to spend more time with the kids and their many friends in the neighborhood. We even got to get more acquainted with all their neighbors too. I am now known as "Mr. Spike" by the neighbor kids. They all love wildlife and I may have to plan a program for them some time in the future. They are just wide-eyed with interest when you answer their questions.

     Dear Family and Friends;
Hi again from Susie's Gardens in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Hot, Hot, Hot! But not as hot as some are having it in California or the Plains States. We finally did get a couple of inches of rain a week or so ago, but the heat dries that up pretty fast. With the lack of rain in June and July, Susie's daylilies didn't last too long. There are still some blooming but they gave it up pretty quick. The cardinal flowers (lobelia) are small but bright red and beautiful. The red cannas continue to blossom as do the red hibiscus, Rose of Sharon and another shrub with white ball-shaped clusters of flowers which I forgot the name of is in bloom. It looks like a type of viburnum or hydrangea. A red dahlia also came into bloom. Susie reviewed her list of plants on the property; flowers, shrubs, and trees, and came up with 274 different species with around 462 cultivars (meaning various types of some of those species, and I figure she must have over 1,000 individual plants. That's not counting annuals we often buy and plant each year or what I have around and in the vegetable garden; petunias, impatiens, salvias, marigolds, zinnias, nasturtiums, the asparagus, basils, sage, dill, chives, parsleys, rosemary, etc., the veggies, and others. An insect's delight!

     The vegetable garden is just starting to produce tomatoes due to my late start this spring. The squash are giving up early again along with the cukes. I think stem worm got into two of the squash plants. But we just didn't get rain "in due season" eother. I have been getting some nice green peppers and a few jalapenos. The jalapenos go into the freezer as they are, for chili, pepper steak, and stews come fall and winter. The zinnias add a bunch of color in the veggie garden, most of which seeded themselves from last year so they came up everywhere. The okra is slow too and first getting up to where they should start flowering. The green beans were infected by the bean beetle larvae and eggs so I pulled them all and salvaged what I could out of the fruit. Next year I go back to starting in late April like I used to. The later start has not been working out. One oddity was the two bush cuke plants I planted in pots. They both died back to just a stem. I fertilized them and now they have the biggest and healthiest leaves and big blossoms on them.

     The catbirds have been the most vocal birds in recent days-it's just too hot for the birds too. The hummingbirds are very active and are diving, swooping, and chattering all over the yard, using three feeders. The goldfinches are nesting now so we don't see them too often. Soon though, they will be feasting on the wide variety of seeds that Susie's Gardens offer. We still have the wrens all over the yard too. We try to keep the three bird baths full but they evaporate so fast. The birds really use them a lot in these hot dry periods. We have many flying beetles (Japanese, June, etc.) which feed on leaves and flowers alike. The butterflies are really active too as we move toward August. I've seen more monarchs this year already than all of last year. The butterfly bush out my work room window is blooming and there are usually two or three big tiger swallow tails hanging and swaying on them, plus black swallowtails, and skippers.

     Dear Family and Friends;
Greetings from Susie's Gardens. The heat spell continues, but we are a bit cooler today (Saturday). Had a little rain too which helped, but the temp is going back into the 90s on Sunday. We broke a record on Thursday with a 102. Cicadas are a-sangin.' Dragonflies and butterflies are everywhere. We've been watering pretty heavily and should have a dandy water bill the next two months. I will say one thing, the heat sure rushes the tomatoes into maturing. They are coming pretty fast now, especially the grape and cherry tomatoes. And, because of lack of rain, and only sparse watering, they are unblemished. Some have only shoulder cracks. Had we had a heavy rain after they had set their sizes, they would have cracked down the sides, like they have the past two years, so I'll take 'em they way they are.

     The cukes never really got started. They needed more water, plus I missed seeing three fruits which had gotten very large. Of course as a fruit starts to mature, the plant shuts down seeing as it has done what it's supposed to do-grow seed. By picking fruit we force the plant to keep trying top produce fruit for seed. The okra is stunted but just starting to produce. I know what I did wrong. They were too crowded by other plants, the beans in particular, and I actually hand watered them too much. Okra likes space and dryness. Also, there is such a thing as "companion planting"-that is some plants grow better alongside others and some don't like others. Kinda like people! I don't know what okra likes or dislikes-just being crowded I guess. I remember planting summer squash near turnips and boc choy one year, and the squash simply would not grow. It stayed stunted all year-and it was two types so it wasn't just a bad plant. My summer squash did only fair. Stem worm got two of the plants and the lack of water slowed the rest.

     Its funny how it seemed like all I had to do in the past was throw seed in the ground and watch things grow, I think someone had mercy on all my earlier feeble attempts. It's as if someone is saying, "Hey you now know how to do it right, so do it right, no more easy stuff! " I've planted some lettuces in big pots hoping to get some later lettuce this year and if I can find some broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cabbage plants at a nursery, I'll try a late garden this year. We have morning glory everywhere, climbing up the tomato stakes and cages, and even up other weeds and my asparagus. But it's been too hot and too dry to pull the weeds out of the rock hard soil. Have a great little patch of foxtail grass. The goldfinches make daily visits to the zinnias and verbenas for seeds. Susie's Gardens still look good although the daylilies are about done. Lots of sunflower varieties, and phlox. Our bigger crepe myrtles are outstanding again, as are the white ones out front. We're on the downhill run now, and the heat is hastening things. But after all, football practice has started so its time! I remember the hot summers in Milwaukee back in 1945-46-47 when the polio scare was going around. Kids were in quarantine. We weren't allowed to leave our property for July and August. We did cheat a little by playing board games on the front porch between a few of us who lived close by. One friend, who lived two doors away, and I would throw the baseball back and forth over the neighbor's yard. It was a boring time for those few years.

Editor's Note: If you would like to write about your back yard, please feel free to do so. And include photos. JAF