Gardening – Page 9 – Gardens For Goldens

Welcome Relief

9:09 PM. 94-degrees.

Today is supposed to mark the end of a seven-day stretch of 100+ temperatures in the Sacramento Valley. By some miracle, we are supposed to get to a high of only 95 tomorrow. Someone, please grab my parka!

The flowers in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden are more than ready for some relief.

Pups too. This is Bailey. She’s hot.

This lucky dog has found his relief; not just a shady spot, but a long-awaited home.

Tom came all the way from Taiwan and has been with us awhile. He’s another dog with sight impairments,

but he has no problem following his ball, does he?

He is going home with Kevin next week. A former adopter, a veteran, a man with an obvious passion for this well-deserving dog.

Kevin says he knew the minute he saw Tom that he was the one. He has visited with him constantly while waiting for a family commitment to conclude before Tom can go home.

They both obviously look forward to that day. We look forward to a breeze,

and a much-needed break from this sweltering heat!

Here’s hoping for our promised 95-degrees and a 12 mph breeze. Wind chill of 92 anyone? We’ll take it!

Wordless Wednesday: Elusive

Heat Wave

In case you missed the news, we’re having a heat wave out west. No wait…a heat storm. A solid week (at least) of triple digit temperatures is more than a wave.

The Dahlias are loving it…and now outpacing Maria’s sunflowers (ha!)

And while everything else in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden has survived so far, everybody is looking as tired of this as we are!

The doggies get regular runs in the sprinklers or splashes in the pool…including this little boy that you may have seen on my post yesterday.

His “best” name is still being determined; in the meantime, we call him “Monster”.

What I didn’t mention is that he is blind. We’re hoping that his sight is fixable. We’ll certainly do our best to change it. But he has adapted very well so far as you can see…

and he certainly has no problem finding the treat pocket!

Think good thoughts for our power grid, and more importantly, prayers for our firefighter heroes please. It’s too hot for man or beast.

Stay cool.

Wordless Wednesday: White

Dog Days (Before Summer!)

Saturday, it was 111-degrees in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden by 2PM. The birds were seeking water…

and shade.

The Coreopsis was wilting…

Even the flowers were sweating! Kidding…but they would if they could!

White looks magnificent and cooling when it’s hotter than hades.

Kondos had the right idea. He makes a kiddie pool look dignified and cool.

We keep these little pools in each yard exactly for days like Saturday. When it is even too hot to trek the dogs to the big swimming pool, we bring the water to them before returning them to the air conditioning to nap away the afternoon. The pools are dual purpose; they double Steve’s Scuba Training Center. He taught Scrubs how to scuba by slyly placing his cookies at the bottom of the pool. We think he’s a natural!

The Delta Breeze mercifully kicked in Saturday night, and today we enjoyed a cool breeze while we worked, letting out a collective….ahhh.

Have a great week all!

A June Night

At 9:42 pm, the thermometer reads 89-degrees.

I made a quick check-up on the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden tonight – when the thermometer still read 106.

I discovered Rob mowing despite his promise not to if it was too hot. He lied. Out of respect, I will not share a photo of him dripping sweat. The fresh cut looks lovely though.

It is too hot for man, woman, beast, or bunny.

“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.” ~ Russel Baker

The plants and flowers surprised me; they have held up amazingly well.

In their second season, they are taller providing shade for their roots which are better mulched this year as well.

The dogs are tucked in. The only sounds are those of nature’s creatures scurrying to feed and drink before night blankets the garden.

“If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.” ~ Bern Williams

Tomorrow’s forecast: 108. Sigh. I think it will be a good day to spend hosing down doggies.

Wordless Wednesday: First Sunflower of the Season

Bee-trayal

Until this weekend, the bees and I had an understanding.

I deadhead the flowers, which produces more for them to enjoy.

I leave them alone; they leave me alone.

Someone didn’t get the message.

A honeybee stung me, stuck in me and wouldn’t let go. I read later that honeybees sting only once, leaving their stinger and venon sac in the victim. This results in their own premature death. Bumblebees, yellow jackets and wasps on the other hand can sting multiple times. That’s just wrong.

The justice of a strike for a life seems fair.

Like the knats that have invaded the garden this year, the spiders have their revenge.

With temperatures already approaching the century mark, the bees, butterflies, dogs and dog walkers were moving slow – easy prey for my camera.

Even the killdeer is too hot to sit on her babies – so she shades them instead.

The pups took their walkers to their favorite shady spots. Lily has this down.

Jack too.

And Bobo.

Lucky pups. Not so lucky walkers and gardeners. Jody worked on sprinklers in the west yard, Maria fixed the drip in the Willow garden, and Rob mowed. I think I got the better end of the deal this weekend, except for the stinging bee.

If it is this hot in the spring, I think we’re in for a long summer. No complaints though, when surrounded by good dogs,

good friends and beautiful flowers…

with mostly well-behaved bees.

Sunshine, Freedom, and a Little Flower

A perfect long weekend starts early with the afternoon off and a sneak trip to the garden.

The Hummingbird Garden with Veronica, Coreopsis and Asiatic Lily in bloom….

The Cottage Garden, freshly tamed. Ina has been here!

The Butterfly Garden, filling in at a rapid rate. I saw a Monarch today, but it got away!

The Dahlias, making their way skyward…

Maria’s Garden, a jumble of color awaiting the Sunflowers arrival…

Darn bunnies burrowing beneath the blueberries…

And visitors. A lizard with a keen sense of irony…

And Pelican Bay. Taking up residence in the flooded rice fields.

“Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
~ Hans Christian Anderson

(I’ll be back tomorrow.) 🙂

Guests of the garden

We have a lake view! The rice fields that surround Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue have been flooded with water surrounding our eight acres of rescue paradise.

With the arrival of the water we have new visitors to the garden – most welcome. The birds were everywhere this weekend,

squabbling over territory and even feeding on our bees.

This particular creature is less welcome.

I’m pretty sure he is a water snake. I’m very sure he needs to return there post-haste!

With our heavy clay soil, I suspect the flooded fields around us help the plants by keeping the roots moist and cool. What a display!

This time last year, we were still planting. Sometimes I look in astonishment at what we have created.

Of course, we had our four-legged visitors as well. Tyson is a bounce-back; returned because his family’s circumstances changed and he was unhappily spending too much time alone. We need to find him a family that can give him the time and attention he needs.

Janie is recovering from cancer treatment. She’s doing great now, and while Judy enjoys having her as her “office dog”, it is time for her to find a family of her own as well.

These adorable pups returned for their vet check and last round of shots. They are from the litter we showed up in March – one of our First Signs of Spring. They are growing up so fast!

Our dog walkers and other volunteers pitched in to continue the foxtail eradication project. As if their other contributions are not enough, they have arrived early and stayed late the past few weekends working double time to get the weeding done. The yards and trails have never looked better – and ensure that the pups have a safe place to play and train.

But my crowning weekend achievement is this:

A spotless garden shed. And a word of warning to my fellow gardeners…it had better stay that way!!
Happy week, all! See you in the garden.

Vignettes from the Garden: May 2013

“Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning, and under every deep a lower deep opens.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

Of thorns

“Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy that to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.” ~ Voltaire

We passed through more than a few thorns this weekend – literally and figuratively – beginning with the dreaded foxtails!

Foxtails are nasty pointed grass clusters that lodge themselves into pets’ eyes, ears, noses, toes and fur, among other places. In long-haired dogs (we have more than a few of these!) foxtails can be hidden by fur between the toes or on the body and, if left unattended, can poke the dog’s skin and eventually cause a large abscess requiring surgical removal.

Foxtails are barbed in such a way that they can only move in a “forward” direction. Since a dog’s body is incapable of degrading or decomposing them, they can wreck havoc. They grow in abundance in California – and on an eight acre dog sanctuary located in the country, you can imagine the threat. So this weekend we called on our dog walkers and gardeners for a “weed-a-thon” rising early to tackle the trails, benches, and other areas well traveled by the dogs. It’s not exactly my favorite kind of gardening…but it must be done.

Candy was kept company by her beautiful Shane;

and if the company of dogs is not incentive enough, donuts always do the trick!

Sundays, Kathryn holds Reactive Dog Training Class. This class is for dogs that don’t play nicely with others; some of them are our rescues, others are from community members seeking help.

A dog can’t be forced to like other dogs. But you can help them cope with their fears or anxiety by teaching them alternate behaviors. Our trainers have had amazing success with turning these thorny issues into good canine behaviors. I’ll share more on an upcoming post.

This poor pup was literally covered in thorns.

We are just beginning to write his story of true rescue; it deserves a post all its own. I will bring it to you soon. In between all, we managed to get a little gardening in!

After a week of unseasonably hot temperatures, the weather has cooled, and the garden is breathing a sigh of relief.

It weathered the heat well, and brings forth new treasures each week like this Jerusalem Sage…

Clematis…

Maria’s first sunflowers…

and of course, Roses – thorns and all.

With the promise of two stories to come, have a great week and I’ll hope to see you back here soon!