Wonderful Relaxing 4th of July

I had a very nice 4th of July.

I didn't do anything in celebration of the holiday today. (Remember we had a party on Sunday.)

After a short time at work, I came home and rearranged containers on the deck. All of my planters have filled out enough so that I can now play with different arrangements.

After I had everything the way I wanted it, I brought out a book and read for awhile. Then I pulled out the wheelbarrow and went around cutting down the dead poppy foliage, cut back some fall asters, and cut back a few more of the pink mallow.



Then I came back and rearranged a few more planters that I thought I liked, but after looking at them a bit, decided to try something different. (for the next two months rearranging the deck will give me great pleasure!)
The glider is my favorite spot to sit.
I decided to move the birdhouse with the chickadee family so I could view it more easily from my favorite seat.

I was a litle worried that Mom and Dad Chickadee would not be able to find their home when I saw them fly in, land on the railing and look all around three times. I was almost ready to put it back when one of them zoomed in from above and landed right at home.

I just realized today that both Mom and Dad feed their young. I don't know how to tell them apart yet. I saw them both together, but they looked the same to me. Now that I have the perfect seat to watch them maybe I will figure it out.



DH hung one of my new feeders at the opposite end of the deck. So far no bird has found the feeder.


When I got home from work I did dig out the scaveola from the hibiscus tree planter below and I put it in the sled.

I think it will work nicely after a few weeks of filling out.



We also went to Walmart and Home Depot this afternoon. I found some plants marked down and couldn't resist a King Coleus for $2, another coleus and impatiens combo for $4 and two 'Dragon Wing' red begonias for $4 each.

Blogger won't let me add them to this post, so I will add another below.