August is just around the corner, and like usual, summer is screaming along! I've been trying to embrace the warm, sunny days and the garden as much as I can, spent most of June making jewels for our summer sale and prepping the yard. After a pretty harsh winter, I lost some big Junipers and a long stretch of Brunnera (Siberian Bugloss). So things had to come out and be replaced and some plants just needed to move to different spots due to overcrowding. I fixed a few areas that haven't quite worked for a long time so that was exciting, but of course, it never ends and there's always more to do. Here's a few snapshots from the yard this summer ~ 

Lost something in front of that little birdbath, I think it was a Maltais Cross, which was too big for that spot anyway. Have since added some short, perennial cranesbills.

Moved some blueberry bushes out of this bed above because they weren't getting enough light and filled it with Coral Bells, Hermann's Pride, Astilbe, Hostas and Rodger's Plants. I'm excited to see what it looks like once it fills out. 

Love these sweet Saxifrage plants above with their delicate flowers that gentle sway in June breezes.  

The cheery Fleabane above survived the winter, yes! And the front rock beds below are filled with colour ~ 

Though I give the Golden Mound and Magic Carpet Spireas a heavy prune each spring, they always bounce back, packed with flowers and attracting tons of bees.

It's a Jungle out there! 

During all those hours gardening, our little Mickey, who is an indoor cat, would lean up against the patio door screen to keep an eye on me, however, one day, our neighbour's cat came strolling through the yard and up towards the patio door, which floored Mickey. In that moment, Mickey just opened the door with his paw and went after the other cat, chasing him up on a fence and into the front yard, where I ran to separate them. After that, Mickey repeatedly tried to break out through the screen door to find his nemesis. This became such a problem we couldn't use the screen door so Chris built him his own "Catio" where he can now be outside protecting his domain, but still be protected: 

It even has a cat door so Mickey can access it anytime day or night and I've since added some cat grass and cat mint for him to chomp on when he feels like it. He seems pretty happy and we haven't had a problem since. Also, it's really nice to have him out there when we are barbecuing, gardening, visiting with friends or in the hot tub. I'm actually thrilled about this solution and think Chris should go into business building catios. 

Apart from gardening, it's been a pretty leisurely slice of time with visits and outings. Here's a few moments I managed to capture from the last couple of months. In order: setting up for our sale, geese and many, many babies near Moose Lake, birthday bbq, picnic with my family, photo derby on a road rally, dramatic skies at the horse races, a bee enjoying my hydrangea, my niece's wedding shower, Mickey and Sheila, Taste of Edmonton relocated to the Legislative grounds, Mom and Louise posing while on the Edmonton Horticultural Garden Tour, and a visit from my friend, Skye who loved the cherry tree.

Hope you've been enjoying your summer as well. I have some work to do this August, prepping for September and I'm looking into better ventilation in my studio, but I'm still going to spend as much time enjoying this wonderful season. Stay cool and talk to ya in the fall. xo