Rain Rain Rain

It was a mostly rainy day today. Again. It seems we (the Pacific Northwest) are the only cool place in the continental U.S. That's OK by me. I don't like the heat and get very cranky when it gets over 85 degrees. At least the rain and cool temps are keeping the fire season down to nil and the moss is greening up again. We'll see how the rest of the summer goes. The heat dome is supposed to be moving east this week and may bring the warmth back up to us. Perhaps we will have summer after all. :)

My lupine and a lot of the foxglove plants have fallen over because of the rain hitting them. They were really looking nice and I didn't get any pictures before they fell over. RATS! But...the Himalayan Balsalm is doing fine and growing quite well. They might bloom out if we can get a bit of sun this week. I don't have any current pics of the Balsalm but do from last year.






It is also called Policeman's Helmet because the shape of the flower looks like a London Bobbie's helmet. These plants, if watered weekly, can get up to 6 - 7 feet tall. They are a very easy plant to raise and also easily reseed themselves. Some people here in Oregon call them an invasive species. If you keep up with pulling out the ones you don't want in your garden, I think they will do all right. Also, the slugs don't like them! Bonus!!