Dog Daze of Summer....or is it Deer Daze???

Dog daze or Deer daze of summer...front yard is a cool place to relax for our local white tail deer families. Mostly free from traffic, mountain lions.  But not free from the lawn mower, which is just about ready to go after charging. Electric mower is working well, cuts nicely, is quiet and light.  Planning on spreading fresh mulch under the lodgepoles in the front this weekend, adjust the rock border and finish staining the garage.  Nice late summer projects during this 2020 Pandemic.  For the moment, I am enjoying the social distancing view of Montana wildlife, teaching Barney to just observe quietly and not act like a fool every time he sees the "Big Doggie"!

Window Box--Summer of 2020

 This is always the first annuals I plant at the end of April or beginning  of May each year.  For some reason, even if the night time temps dip well below freezing, the heat of this West facing side of the house keeps everything warm enough to survive.  All the flowerboxes around the house do not disappoint! Geraniums, million bells seems to be the flowers that enjoy the summer.  And, the view from the rooms inside the house are wonderful.  I can understand why houses and apartments all over Austria, Germany and Switzerland have window boxes.  The view from the street is lovely, but from the inside is it glorious.  Being able to garden by opening your window is nice too!

Last week of August Blooms continue

 The days are getting shorter, the light is changing.  But that means some of the garden flowers are hitting their prime! And, it is that time of year to hope the last of the tomatoes will have time to ripen, and the pole beans can produce!

We live close to nothing...except perhaps our corner of Heaven....

 Today, the temps are hovering around 75, the sky is clear, the deer family with a spotted fawn has bedded down in the front yard.  Everyone is preparing for winter, I can feel it. The birds are back in the garden, bears are ramping up their feeding on anything and everything.  Grizzly reports starting to come in from the neighborhoods and surrounding properties.

I do feel like I live close to nothing, but close to everything that is important to me.  Solitude, Peace, Beauty, Nature, Wilderness, the Wild, the Garden.

I have arrived to where I need to be. Where my heart is.  My forever home.

Seeley Lake Homestead

 

Final Summer Projects

We started out the summer with a long list of projects and were able to complete most of them, and add a few more.  The geranium corner continues to flourish and I will be bringing them all in again for the winter, as they did so well last winter.  

The garage slope had several attempts to create a useable space, but time got in our way.  So to dress it up for the fall seemed like a good idea.  Here is the before and after:

The final planting of the season will be a Clematis that I found at Lowes.  It indicates on the label it will survive to -30.  I do hope that is true.  It is a beauty:

Cold Nights, Warm Days = Autumn is near

 30 degree temps visited us at about 6am this morning-Friday!  We are to have 94 degrees as a high on Monday.  The plants did not seem to be too shocked by it all.  Tomatoes still seem to be going strong!

My Geranium Corner is doing very well. After wintering them over, not having much hope, they seem to have gone crazy this past couple of weeks. Flowers and tons of buds! Could be that I should expect the full bloom every August and not earlier in the season.  So, I am happy they are doing so well after living quietly in the basement from October-May.

The Homestead...

 Having discovered that in Montana one can desigate or declare one's home a "Homestead" by filing paperwork at the county seat, we did that!  So The Homestead is officially declared. And what a wonderful thing to have former students visit and revel in the garden, specifically...the Pole Beans!

This is Cassie Keogh...now professor of clarinet at North Dakota State University who visited last August!

Summer in Full Swing!

 Now is the time to stroll through the gardens to see what is happening.  New blooms, what has gone to seed, what is next to arrive in the garden cycle.  One starts to appreciate two things.  

First, the gardens have many microclimates.  The bottom of the garden can be a full 10 degrees colder than the top.  Meaning the bottom can be a Zone 4a and the top a zone 5.  A rose or tender perennial might not survive the 4a zone, but would thrive in the 5 zone.  Cold air sinks, so the lower elevations on the property can be dramatically colder.  I also noticed this over the 20+ years driving from Seeley Lake to Missoula.  Even though the elevation in Missoula is about 3200ft and the house is at 4200ft, the Potomac Valley, about 1/2 way to Missoula can drop a serious 20 degrees from Seeley's temperature!  So, if it is -30 in Seeley...OMG...it could be a solid -45 in Potomac! Best to just cross your fingers that the car doesn't break down there in a whiteout!

Second, the real beauty and magic of flowers is found up close and personal!  The famous painter Georgia O'Keeffe knew this well. Some of my pictures are taken about as close as I can get to the flower. Enjoy!

33 Degrees this morning!

33 Degrees this morning!!!!  Oh my!!!!  Summer can crash into fall then quickly into winter here in the Rocky Mountains!  Temps in the 90s only last a few days, then we see the rollercoaster of near freezing temps at night, and warm beautiful days.  August and September can be good for some things, like picking strawberries and tending to the geranium garden.

I love this Polish Berry Bowl for my strawberries!  The Pandemic Wheelbarrow continues to scream SUMMER!