A Season Coming to an End - July 31, 2023

 Here we are, the last day of July... already.  The garden knows summer is already coming to an end.

The black-eyed Susans are mostly finished.  I pull out the ones that have brown leaves, as they won't be back next year.  I leave the others to self-seed.  I don't know how they grow for others, mine bloom two years.  

The wild bergamot petals are gone.  I need to cut it back near the ground. 

The corn poppies are, for the most part, done and gone to seed.  

Because each poppy seed pod holds hundreds of seeds, and I've seen just how many can come up in a good year (which this year wasn't), I picked most of them.

I saved some, crushed others and tossed them about.  Then dusted off my hand!   In a normal year they germinate over the winter.  I noticed a lack of poppy seedlings in the front yard this past winter, and I only had a very few.  Hopefully their hundreds of seeds will grow, if we have a "normal" year.

Of course, part of the front yard poppy shortage was also due to my own forgetfulness.   Yes, a forgotten packet of hundreds of poppy seeds saved last year!  They're still good though, seeds can last years and years.  How many years depends on what kind of seeds, but you definitely do not need to  buy new seeds every year, regardless of the date on the packets.

The coneflowers too are done.  They didn't bloom as well as past years.  That was pretty much the theme of this year though.  Annual were nearly non-existent. 

I've cut back the perennial coreopsis.  The annual plains is left to self-seed, and the Incredible Swirl is still flowering.  It's supposed to be a self-seeding annual, however I have one plant where I had one plant last year, so unless only one seed grew it survived winter.  

The weather is cooler.  Funny to say low 90°s is "cooler," but it feels much better, and the nights in the 50°s is nice.  

I'll get my car back today.  It needed a battery, no big deal, but then the little things that always plague older cars.  The driver's outside door handle broke (the electronic lock wasn't working for quite some time, then the exterior handle came apart), and another door wouldn't unlock (then the pull up thingy snapped off), so... little things.  Mechanically it's fine (once the new battery is in of course).  For the first time ever the dealer didn't find anything they said needed repair!  I go to the dealer for oil changes as it's a Lithia auto, and has a life-time oil change.  Sometimes the dealer has a long list, which I take to my mechanic, who says I don't need it done, and in one case said that it wasn't possible in my car!  Maybe because I have a Ford, and the dealer is a Toyota.  They always promise me "Genuine Toyota Parts."  Ummm... take another look at my car, guys. 

So, summer is coming to an end, and I for one will be happy to welcome autumn.  It's my favorite season, even if it ushers in winter, my least favorite.  Lately though, I wonder if summer isn't my least favorite. It's not like when I was a kid and summer's meant no school, vacations, and doing nothing with friends for months!  There's no incentive to like summer now.

Oh, here's a photo of four mourning doves in formation for a game of four-square.  They were in the neighbor's driveway (not paved like mine  ), I think waiting for me to leave after setting the sprinkler.