Its a lovely time downtown and in the garden !

Usually we have drinks or a bite to eat at The Borough on the corner of Dawson and Morgan Streets near the heart of Downtown Raleigh.

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It’s great people watching and a nice location to begin a walk around Downtown proper and to have a nice bite to eat and a beverage.

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I do love their good food and their option of choosing steamed broccoli in place of fries!

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The red-tail hawks are nesting again in the steeple of the First Baptist Church. Photographers love them!

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As darkness fell and we walked closer to Fayetteville Street we realized that something dealing with anime must be taking place? Kids everywhere dressed: like Japanese anime characters! It is called Anamazement!

Click on the link below for a little video
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10201940409660002&id=1477412812
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The newspaper stated that about 6,000 were attending. This explains why they were EVERYWHERE!

There was a dance party out front if the Raleigh Civic and Convention Center:

Home

If I was 20 years younger I would have been in the middle of that crowd.

But back to gardening!

This is a beautiful patch of Stachys: Lamb’s ears at JC Raulston Arboretum. Lovely!

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And Lilies…

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And foxtails…..

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and lilies at a big box store….

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🙂

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And the spinach never ends!

I purchased a bag of spinach at the Raleigh Farmer’s Market last week and I don’t think I will ever eat it all!

I made spinach pancakes!
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Spinach scrambled eggs.

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And more spinach scrambled eggs.

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In the garden the Amaryllis are blooming. This variety is called St John’s Lily. I saved them from a garbage heap when some yuppies/hipsters purchased an old house and decided to clear everything out of the yard!

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They are all over the yard as are the day lilies! I am glad I stopped that day and saved them from the garbage!

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The temperatures are really heating up. It is regularly reaching almost 80f everyday!  The humidity will follow soon.

It’s all part of the typical Southern Summer!

atb

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Transition into Summer….

The garden has entered that transition period between Spring and Summer. A few of the Spring bloomers have one or two blooms remaining but the Summer bloomers are beginning their show!

Trumpet Honeysuckle

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Oakleaf Hydrangea

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Spiderworts – this is a wonderful blue seedling which appeared this year. They tend to seed all around the garden.

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The oxeye daisies are finishing their show and coreopsis are beginning to bloom in the wildflower beds.

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Around town, I stopped at a new bakery for the first time: Yellow Dog Bakery (https://www.facebook.com/yellowdogbread?v=wall).

I enjoyed a foccacia and mocha latte. The tomatoes are so sweet when roasted.

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On the way back to the house I stopped at the Water Garden at Fred Fletcher Park. The shrubs around the Redbird sculpture have been replaced with a grass. Much better choice than the shrubs!

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Recent rains have filled the basin and the frogs were singing loudly. There were ducks sitting on the overflow drain but they are difficult to see in the photo. Soon the cardinal flowers and other wetland plants will fill the area with blooms. This acre-sized area is much better than the ditch it use to be. It’s amazing that this is a man-made water retention pond adjacent to a major road. The water runs into the ponds and the sediment and pollution settles to the bottom and clean water exits out the overflow to the river and steams.

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But is anything better than a grilled pimento cheese sandwich?

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I think not!

atb.

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Filed under General Gardening