Rain and flowers

June 23, and we're getting our first rain in over a week. We've accomplished a lot. Which isn't surprising, given our obsession. We threw in the final 8-foot section of fence right on the street, protecting the morning glories and liatris. Funny, when the fence comes last, how the space is suddenly defined. Now we have a little corner planting of Liatris, kniphofia, cannas, Maximillian sunflowers morning glories and annual sunflowers.

We also just finished a run of 8 gigs in 8 days, including two with two gigs per day. Starting with a wedding at Tuscanino, the B&B run by our friends Greg and Martha, we next played the Landing that night, Kendall Square with Mikey D., open mic at the Landing, a jazz trio with Robb at the The Dolphin Yacht Club , a fund-raiser for our Irish Step Dancing friends, back at the Landing, then a wedding Sunday. Wait is that 8 or 9? Anyway, throw in 2 rehearsals for a wedding June 28 (with a 40-song custom playlist, about half of which is Latin music!) and we've been busy.

Still, we managed to spend a fair amount of time in the garden, and here's what's happening.

* First sunflower, a strawberry blonde, has bloomed at about 4.5 feet.
* The Prince Sikorsky clematis on the garage popped on Tuesday (6/16) and is now covered, and tops the garage roof.
* The Dan & Pat clematis bloomed today, about 8 days behind the garage one. There exists at the garage and intense micro-climate that spans probably about 8 feet of the side of the garage. It gets about 4 hours of sun, and the dark color of the wall intensifies it. This is where the gaura, normally dicey in our zone, has made it. The heat is exacerbated by a window that reflects and amplifies the intensity of both the light and heat. So Roze tossed in some 15" high Marguerites that are thriving in half-day sun.
* Morning glories in half-day threw a deep royal purple blossom at the arbor.
* The little yellow ground cover from Jerry and Susan opened with lemony cup-shaped flowers in the rock garden.
* First zinnia, a cut n come again from River's Edge in Framingham, has shown its orange-itude by the Northwest fence.
* Green beans, chard, spinach, Romaine and peas all doing well, though we think we will start the spinach, peas and lettuce earlier next year.
* Strawberries! From one All-Star last year to dozens of plants. We've taken at least a gallon of berries, and that's only counting the ones that made it into the house. Neighborhood kids Elijah, Matthew and Ryan ate about a quart in 5 minutes Saturday.
* Zucchini and tomatoes are on or ahead of schedule. (Romas, Celebrity, Early Girls, Bush goliath and a couple of volunteers.) Brussels sprouts are about to take off amid the zucchini. Cukes are gaining momentum too, as are the sweet potatoes (!).

Finally, spotted our first monarch butterfly, so maybe they're on their way!