A Kansas Country Garden: After the Rain

Rain is a good thing.

Raindrops cling to the lovely lilies.

Few gardeners complain about the rain. None in Kansas, I'm pretty sure. Not after suffering through several summers of drought and scorching heat.  So when the sky clouds over and thunder begins to rumble as it has been doing lately, that's a good thing.

Stella D'Oro are the first day lilies to bloom. Nepeta "Walker's Low" is in the background.

Rain is a reason to rejoice.  It makes me smile and perhaps hum a little song, but my celebration is mild compared to what's going on in the garden. Every plant, yes even the weeds, are drinking deeply and exploding in new growth and bloom. 

A few roses continue to bloom.

Rainy days and Mondays always make me....smile.

When its raining hard, of course the gardener should remain inside with the above mentioned rejoicing and humming being fine activities for such a time. Should the rain lessen to a mere drizzle or even halt for a few minutes, remaining inside is no longer an option. 

This clematis wasn't really happy until I moved it to a new location.

While care should be used not to walk on rain soaked garden soil and thus damage it by compaction there are still activities to engage in. First of all a stroll around the garden to check things out is in order. The plants are happy, of course, but some of the flowers may have lost their petals and some of the seedlings may have been beaten down. This is a small price to pay.

Campanula, or Bellflower have a vibrant bloom.

A favorite activity of mine, especially during a light drizzle, is to relocate seedlings. Many of my established plants produce seedlings, either by dropping seeds or sometimes by spreading roots. Very often they are too close together. I like to have my favorite plants in more than one location. A perk of having a country garden is that there is room for lots of plants and these seedlings are free gifts! When the soil is wet, it is a simple thing to dig up a seedling and relocate it to a better spot. Success is not guaranteed, of course, but is exponentially more likely on a wet, overcast day than a dry, hot day. 

Shasta daisies always seem cheerful

This is also a good time to pull weeds. Again, you shouldn't just go tromping through a saturated garden, but by staying on the lawn or path it is still possible to reach over and pull weeds. They need to go and pulling them when to soil is wet means you're more likely to pull up the roots along with the stem.

Love this sedum and plant it everywhere. Yellow blossoms are a nice bonus.

I am always astounded at the number of tree seedlings in the garden and this year there are more than ever (especially elms). Not a single one can be allowed to reach maturity. It doesn't take long for them to grow beyond seedling size to sapling size which becomes a much bigger job to remove.

In the vegetable garden tomato plants get larger each day.

Yes, I love a rainy day, but I love sunny days, too. Thank God for both!

My flower garden would not be complete without Allium,Christophii.

Elderberry bushes grow where they choose and that's okay. The lovely flowers are worth it and according to some, the berries have great health benefits.

Feverfew, Tanacetum parthenium, have hundreds of tiny daisy flowers.

One last rose on the Heritage, a David Autin Rose bush.