Yard pictures and updated blog info

Hi friends!

(NOTE: You are receiving this post via Mail Chimp, my new notification service for my subscribers. If you ever want to go directly to my blog post and be able to see the sidebar images and lists, links, etc., then click on the BLUE title of my post at the very top of this email.)

Now to begin...........I just wanted to let you know that my blog is now updated to use Mail Chimp rather than Feedburner, for my subscribers to receive my blog posts in their email inbox! Thank you to Linda at Life and Linda.  She was such a great  help - or I should say, she did it all herself!!! THANK YOU Linda!

If you didn't know, Blogger is going to quit using Feedburner this month to direct Blogger posts to their subscribers. If you have already subscribed to my blog, then you will begin receiving this post and all subsequent posts of mine from Mail Chimp.

 

NOTE: If you HAVE previously subscribed, and maybe used an old email address that is no longer current, then I would ask that you re-subscribe by going directly to my blog and use the "sign up" link via Mail Chimp on the right sidebar. I was looking at some of the emails in my contact list, and some look like ones that are not current. Mail Chimp will continue emailing to the old email addresses, so PLEASE UPDATE YOUR EMAIL so you won't miss any future posts!

IF YOU HAVEN'T YET SUBSCRIBED AND WANT TO, then please go to the sign-up box on my right side bar and add your email address, (after you click the blue title at the top of this email which will take you directly to my blog). You will then be notified by Mail Chimp of my future posts.

It's been SO HOT here, as most of Oregon  has been this last week or so, that I haven't had much motivation to do outdoor things or work in my yard. I HAVE managed to water everything every day or twice a day, but the high temperatures (in the triple digits) have done a number on a few of my plants. I hope they come back! 

Saturday it was 110, Sunday 113, Tuesday 109 and Wednesday 107. Today, it was "only" 101! Funny how your perspective changes when it gets so HOT. Now 99 degrees seems downright cool!

My poor peonies just could not withstand the heat.... doesn't help that bugs have been chewing up the leaves too.

Even my vine maple, that is partly in the shade, has crinkly leaves. I water it religiously!

My poor raspberries really haven't done well in the heat, even though I water the roots and get the leaves wet twice a day. It was only this one section that was hurt and burned. The rest seem pretty good.

My peach roses haven't done so well.... this one in the middle is pretty nice and didn't burn, but most of the other blooms dried up right away. Last  year they were so gorgeous and a bright peach/orange color. This year they are so faded. 

Most of my bushes and shrubs are doing OK. Before this heat wave, I had just planted alot of new pots of annuals. I am fortunate that most have survived with my constant watering and moving them into the shade for the most part.

My lilac bush by the back "patio/gravel" area seems to be thriving in the heat!

These are some shrubs in my front yard that have grown so fast in the last 3 years. They were 50 cent plants that I bought 3 or 4  years ago when we had our last really bad heat wave. They were all wilted and almost dead. They have thrived in the front yard and make it seem like a little oasis under our quaking aspen tree. Love it!

A view of our front, the quaking aspen (trunk) and some recent annuals I planted in pots. Sorry about the hose.. I was too lazy to get up and move it in over 100 degree heat today! My petunias aren't loving the heat at all.

Front  yard to the left side by our rock wall - the Sumac has about overtaken that corner - see the new "baby" one coming up in the center? You have to pull them up quick or they will overtake an area in less than a year. Also.. the lower area has my wonderful Vine Maple tree that is finally settling in and loving its location. Vine Maple don't do very well in this hot and dry climate.

Here's the better side of my raspberries. They are doing well and full of green berries... I just hope the heat doesn't prevent them from ripening. I'm really babying them this year. Also.. see our peach tree front left? It is doing really well.

One pretty peach rose from our front yard.. a few look pretty good, but mostly they dry out before they mature. The fragrance is still there though! It's just wonderful.

One more thing I've planted this year (right before this hot spell).... is strawberries. I just LOVE fresh strawberries and I never seem to have much luck with them here. The gal at the nursery said in this cold winter climate, I shouldn't be planting them in raised containers (which I was doing) because the below zero temps can freeze the roots when they're above ground in a pot.

Last  year's strawberries were in a cedar planter, but they never wintered over and never came back this spring.

So I planted my new "babies" (that had been blown all over the nursery in a wind storm a few days before) in the ground in our "new" back flower bed. I got them for $1.00 each! I amended the soil quite abit... and they seem to love it there. I know they look small, but remember, they had been all blown off of the stand and had been scattered hither and yonder in a wind storm, so they were pretty puny when I bought them.

My strawberry bed.... behind it are 4 new blueberry plants I bought, plus a thornless blackberry. I'm going to plant the blueberries in huge pots (which we just received yesterday from Lowe's), and the blackberry will get planted over at the end of my raspberries, where I have another one I planted 2 years ago, that is doing quite well.

See all that green tufty stuff in the foreground (above)??? Well.. THAT, is supposed to be our back lawn! It is horrible again, even though I've weeded, feeded, raked, dug out weeds, watered, etc. etc. etc. It just will NOT grow grass! But the weeds do love it! I just throw up my hands in despair............ 

Blueberries - blackberry at the far right. I can hardly wait. Maybe next year we may reap the rewards (if the heat or winds don't kill them all).

I planted a "knock off" (or knock out?) rose in the new flower bed, next to the strawberries, and it surprisingly has done fairly well in this heat. These are some new blossoms. I keep it well watered.

I hope this new home for the strawberries works out. I had my first berry on June 29th! I'm really babying these too.. and I want to build a frame I can set over them if/when I get some berries, to keep the birds away. These are all mostly everbearing so I will get another crop late summer.

I think we are going to be seeing some cooler (if you consider 98 degrees cool) temperatures for the next 10 days and the nights will be cooler. We have been miserable at night, because our air conditioning does not reach to our bedroom much at the end of the house. We only have a wall air conditioner. The cooler nights will be a blessing, so I can open our bedroom window! Some nights have been 95 degrees at 10 p.m.!

That's the update for now. It's just a fight to keep things watered and wet. Our poor back lawn is a losing battle. I hate to put it all in gravel or bark dust, but we may have to do that at some point or just give up and let the weeds take over. 

Me and my hubby still have alot of work to do this summer in our yard. Still haven't had time for much "fun" or any fun outings. Had planned to go to the Oregon coast for my birthday, but we could see it was going to be so hot that we couldn't leave our kitties outside, so we cancelled until a later date. I think Oregon is going to have a super hot summer, at least central Oregon, so the coast trip may not happen until Fall. (sniff sniff).

I have been cleaning and reorganizing my craftroom.. trying to "destash" some items I don't really need or use, rearranging things, and added a new 4-tier shelf beside my work area to put the items on that I use the most. It's quite big and takes up alot of space, so I'll see how I like it before I rave too much!

I  hope everyone is doing well!  Until next time.........

~Marilyn~

ALL CONTENT © PINK PAPER COTTAGE.

PLEASE DO NOT COPY MY PHOTOS AND IMAGES INTO YOUR OWN POSTS WITHOUT FIRST LINKING TO THIS BLOG AND MY NAME.