When I was a very young boy, my sisters were obsessed with Bobby Rydell. We listened to the song: Throughout Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer, endlessly one summer. This song came to represent the carefree and fun days of summer. Only later did I realize that Nat King Cole made this song famous. I like the Cole version but forever etched in my mind is the version by Bobby Rydell. I suspect not many people remember Bobby Rydell.

This summer has many comparisons to the song. Lazy doesn’t apply, but hazy applies. Once again, we experienced smoke from wildfires in Canada. The smoke is difficult to capture, but in this photograph you can see that at mid-day the sky was white. Working in the yard was not pleasant however, this did not stop me.

Crazy is also another way to describe my summer activity. Between work conference calls, meetings with the garden club and attempting to enjoy some of the good summer days, I try to find time to work in the garden. I am not always successful. One of the crazy aspects is the family of deer – five of them. We have 2 does, a buck and 2 fauns. I admit they are cute. They nevertheless are determined to eat everything, and I must wonder why the buck hangs around with does in tow. Is it really a menage a trois?

The deer have chosen the fire pit as a favorite resting spot. A black and white stray cat haunts the yard looking for mice. It likes to frolic with the deer in the meadow.

Our vegetable garden is growing nicely, in spite of voracious ground hogs. They decided the leaves of various plants are delicious. They avoided the tomatoes, and peppers. They found the squash, marigolds and carrots irresistible. We have had to cover most things with some type of wire. Next year we will plan differently. We also have a rabbit, a first for us. So far I have not seen it in the vegetable garden, but I know it is inevitable. One day when we were looking out the kitchen window and saw several ground hogs eating grass, Andrew commented we have a zoo.

We are very happy with the steel raised beds we installed. The beds have worked well and have made taking care of the garden easier.

We planted zinnias around our bird bath. The birdbath sits on top of the opening for the septic tank. For years I have struggled with what to grow here. Grass was a problem, because of a raised metal lip of the tank. Last year I tried dahlias and elephant ears. They did not grow particularly well. The zinnias are a welcome treat. The kitchen window looks out onto the birdbath. When I am cooking, I seen many butterflies visiting the zinnias.

Our meadow continues to be an attractive feature in our yard. We have a lot of yarrow. In addition, I have sown coreopsis, cornflower, wild bergamot, black eyed susans, and poppies. We will continue to put seeds in this area. Hopefully the native plants will begin to seed themselves. The coreopsis, cornflower and black eyed susans have seeded from last year. Fewer people ask why we are not taking care of the yard this year. Having more flowers produces a better effect, resulting in more people understanding the seeming lack of maintenance.

As a member of the Historic Iris Preservation Society, I was alerted to a sale of iris from a large garden that was being dismantled, the Pickle Barrel Iris Garden in Michigan. The garden had over 900 varieties of iris, some of which are quite rare. With Andrew’s help using AI, we took the list, evaluated the colors and selected 38 varieties. There was no guarantee that what we selected would actually be available. Ultimately, we received 33 different varieties, spanning many years of development. The oldest rhizome was developed in 1885. We have them in pots to give them daily attention. Hopefully they will all survive. The next challenge is to decide where to place them. At the end of this post, I have included a list of the names. Some of them are quite intriguing.

One of my most exciting gardening projects is the growing of tree peonies. In a prior blog post, I mentioned how I germinated tree peony seeds in early 2025, grew them last summer in pots and then planted them in the ground last fall. We still have 17 of them growing in the oriental garden. It will take 5 years for them to mature to bloom stage. We lost about a third of what I originally planted last fall. They appeared to be growing but withered unexpectedly. Some are currently more vigorous than others. Regardless of how many survive, it has been a rewarding experience. Most of them are protected in cages to keep the deer from eating the leaves. The healthiest are developing a woody stem near the ground, which is a good sign of they will continue to grow.

Throughout the garden we have many different plants blooming at various times of the year. Currently, we have a lovely patch of cleome in the woodland garden. Crocosmia were blooming along the steps in the oriental garden. It was also a good summer for yucca blossoms.

This past weekend and into Monday and Tuesday, we had a lot of rain. On Saturday, Andrew and I were sitting in the living room. It had been raining earlier. We heard a loud thud outside. We looked up and saw a cloud of dust where the enormous dead willow tree had fallen. We have been waiting for years for this to happen. I had asked our tree guy if he could take it down for us. He said it was too big and too dangerous, that we should just wait for it to fall on its own. It certainly fell dramatically. There is about 10 to 12 feet still in the ground as a stump. We measured the trunk that fell. It was 44 feet in length. Given the condition of the stump and trunk that fell, it is surprising it did not fall earlier. The rain earlier in the day must have made the top heavier and this caused it to fall.

Gardening is an adventure. We never know what happens next. The lyrics to the song extolling the lazy days of summer are completely lost on us. Lazy days never seem to happen as there is always something to do, even if it is hiking, visiting a museum, or working in the yard. We would not have it any other way and we celebrate, as Bobby Rydell titled his album, the wild wood days of summer. You’ll wish that summer could always be here.

Iris Varieties: Color & Height

Variety	Color	Height
Acacia Rose	Rose pink self, flushed lighter at center	32″
Alastor	Blend, standards/falls medium purple-red tones	~34–36″*
Amas	Light blue standards; deep blue-purple falls	30″
Arctic Fancy	White, stitched violet; wisteria-blue beard	20″
At Dawning	Crystalline mother-of-pearl standards; rose-pink falls	40″
Azurite	White ground, violet stitching; blue styles/crest	34″
Balder	Cream/buff standards; red/maroon falls; lemon beard	~30″*
Brigadoon	Blend of fuchsia-red and amethyst-violet	38″
Caroline E. Stringer	Palest pink self	30″
Cinnamon Toast	Cream, heavily marked reddish brown	34″
Cuba Libre	Pansy-violet standards; plum-purple falls (plicata)	35″
Dale Dennis	White with orchid markings and crests	10″
Dancing Waters	White and blue plicata	36″
Dark Mood	Dark red self	~36″*
Dawn Reflection	Ivory ground plicata, stitched rose-pink	36″
Dutch Doll	White and bright medium-blue plicata	30–36″
Elizabeth Noble	Palest lavender-white standards; true purple falls	36″
Emma Cook	White with 1/2″ royal purple border on falls	34″
French Maid	Tan/buff medium blend	~36″*
Geomori	White-based (Color Class W9)	Not recorded*
Gina The Gypsy	Greenish yellow standards; velvety deep purple falls	30″
Gold Fish	Buff-pink with purple streaks; pinkish tangerine beard	small*
Jeanne d’Arc	White ground plicata, blue/purple stitching	31″
Kate Izzard	Tourmaline-pink standards; eupatorium-purple falls	30″
Mlle Modiste	Ruffled pink self	36″
Mohave Gold	Orange-yellow self	40″
Olympic Star	Lavender standards; maroon falls	40″
Orchid Dandy	Orchid-toned (details limited)*	—
Plictissima	White with pink plicata edging (Border Bearded)	20″
Quiet Night	Blackish violet to black self	38″
Sable	Deep blue-black-violet self	37″
Sable Robe	Blackish violet self	36″
Singing Rain	Blue with white overlay on falls	36″

*Asterisked entries had incomplete height/color records in the historic iris database.