Wednesday--Hard at Work

Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Although I haven't found much to blog about, I've kept busy.  Tuesday I made 12 pints and 10-12oz jars of various types of Rhubarb jam.  Rhubarb with fresh strawberries.  Rhubarb with fresh Bing cherries.  Rhubarb with cherry pie filling and cherry jello.  Even 4 and 1/2 pints of of baked beans.  



There is still a "blank" spot in my flower beds, on the west side of the house in the desert.  Very hot and dry there, the sun bakes the ground.  So far I have a Yucca plant, two low growing sage, some old fashioned tiger lilies, purple cone flowers.  Hmm, a peony, and some purple striped malva.  I need something that can really take the heat, I might look for an evening primrose.  Any suggestions out there?  Remember, South Dakota gets some extreme weather, from -40F to over 100F.  And when they say "full sun"--in South Dakota that means 4 hours!  Really.  Many plants that do well on the east side of my house would not even THINK of growing on the west side.   Something that doesn't get more than 2-3 foot tall, and not too stalky as it falls over where we walk/mow.  Bee Balm would have been nice, but I've tried 4x and no luck.  I may have to resort to Zinnias and Marigolds, but really would like another perennial. 

Oh, has anyone else been having problems with blogger?  For a few days I was unable to post.  Not that I had much to post about!


7 comments:

Nancy said...

Congratulations on your impressive canning session.

Yes, I've had blogger problems, too. When I tried to sign in or to comment on several blogs, I got a message that Blogger was not available. They probably had a server problem. All seems fine now.

QuiltinLibraryLady said...

You have indeed been a busy lady. I did so much canning & freezing last year I really don't NEED to do much this year, but you know DH, he's such an over achiever in the garden dept. Strawberries have overwhelmed me. I froze what I think we will use, managed to give some away and the rest can rot.

As to blogger, can't say I've had a problem, but then, I only manage to post every 10 days or so, so might have missed the problems.

Barbara said...

What about some type of perennial salvia, iris, coral bells, shasta daisy. All of these work for me in a hot dry area of my yard.

pdudgeon said...

what about poppies, the California kind? they're an annual, but they self seed easily so they may as well be a perennial. they're bright and cheerful with a neon orange color and gray-green folliage. give 'em a try.

pdudgeon said...

....or portulaca. it's a groundcover that comes in multiple shades of double flowers and does wonderfully in hot dry places. I've even seen it self-seed on hot gravel driveways and do just fine.

Gill - That British Woman said...

I'm impressed too. I need to go and pick a pile of rhubarb and freeze it. Not too keen on rhubarb jam in this house.

Thanks for popping by my blog.

Gill in Canada

MightyMom said...

Never had rubarb. Bare spot?? How about yard art?? I'm sure a pink flamingo or two wouldn't mind the sun!!