Spring flowers have given way to the summer blossoms in our garden. We eat fresh greens every day and give away radishes. The garlic crop is pathetic, and it makes me sad to look at it as, the new bed Jim prepared last fall was too rich. Our purple-hulled pea crop is also a disappointment, as I fear we were too frugal in using last year’s remainder seeds.

I cannot buy purple-hulled peas here and, in my estimation, the black-eyed peas I can buy in Bismarck are like cheap whiskey is to Jack Daniels, much less savoury, no matter how they are prepared. My Aunt Frances from Alabama agrees with me on this point, so you don’t get much more of an authority than her.

Oddly enough, the only true lily in my garden, as the rabbits munch on these. Anything that the rabbits eat I do not even try to grow anymore.

First Bird Daylily.

Red Thrift.

Red-Heart Sedum.

Lady’s Mantle in full bloom, with lavender in the background.

It is time now to spend huge swaths of time sitting under the patio umbrella and reading. The house wrens have raised their first clutch and may be started on the second.

When this rock was delivered, this little patch of native grass was growing on it. I like how it has persisted.