Sunday Morning Rain Coming Down

What a wonderful reason to sleep late............rain, rain, rain. It is very overcast and drizzling rain. I think it's supposed to be really chilly tonight and tomorrow night.......perhaps 40 or so. The day was a bummer for gardening or even getting out to enjoy the garden because of the chilly dampness and drizzle. Tomorrow should be much much better for outdoor activity.

I went to PO around 2PM to help do some computer work on route extensions and brought home work on route adjustments for 12 and 15. ME will hopefully be retiring this year, and I'll finally be out of the PO business for good. Even though I have been retired for three years, I continue to help JP and ME (JP retired on April 29 of this year).

My Lilacina lacecap hydrangea (overwintered in the well house) is rather shabby and needs to be cut back to really give it new healthy foliage growth. It has bloomed in the last few days so I will enjoy the blooms for a while before cutting it back sharply to get that flush of new growth. This is a hydrangea that blooms only on old wood. When I saw how poorly it looked this spring, it was already too late to cut it back without losing all blooms for this year. I purchased it last year at Lowes for around 7.

SPEAKING OF LOWES, I forgot to mention that on my way to the PO today I stopped at Lowes. LOTS of their plants were half price. I could not turn down two very nice sized Crimson Mandevillas for $6 each. They were extremely healthy with lovely leaves and blooms. I am not sure why they were half price????? Anyway, I love these plants even tho' they are not winter hearty here in zone 7. Maybe I will try overwintering them this winter to see what happens. I'll add photos of mine tomorrow. Here is a web photo of the color of the plant: