What a beautiful week. The days are ridiculously long. If only I could stop before dark. It’s hard to believe that by next week the days will be getting shorter.

I love the field of daisies at the Captain Flanders property. They look especially nice mixed with lupines. Both will reseed like crazy.

Both the Fella’s building and up-Island Cronig’s are sporting brand new solar panels. It’s so pleasant to park under them at both Cronig’s parking lots. Not only will you be dry while loading the groceries in the rain, but the car stays nice and cool on a hot, summer day. I am interested to see how the sun-loving plants like nepeta will handle the total shade. They had a very sunny location in front of the porch.

I put panels on my house a few months ago. I no longer get an electric bill and shortly they will owe me a nice fat check. I am totally obsessed with my kilowatts. I check every morning and by evening the meter has run backwards all day.

When my parents died my brother gave me the Haliburton stock. He figured the joke was on me given my left wing leanings. I promptly sold it and purchased the solar panels. It seemed only fitting.

There are some beautiful stands of foxgloves that I’ve noticed on my daily travels. One is on Franklin street pretty far up towards West Chop, and the other is on North Road. Both foxgloves and hollyhocks need to be in large family groups. They seem lonely by themselves. I’ve had good luck with both biennials.

I seed them in late winter inside and painstakingly separate them in the spring. They put out fine blooms the following June. I’ve had some for several years even though they are not known to last more than a few seasons. Both will reliably reseed, but one must notice the babies and separate them or they will be too crowded to thrive.

My ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) is in full bloom. It is one of my favorite spring shrubs. It is drought tolerant and prefers acid soil so it is perfect for Vineyard gardens. There are a couple of them hanging over the wall at Polly Hill. They have red leaves and white flowers. Check them out.

I’ve been eating strawberries in the field but haven’t had it together to pick a large amount. No matter. I am thoroughly enjoying them. No store-bought ones can compare.

My elderly body is protesting. There is a lot of physical work involved in gardening all day and every day. Not just bending, stooping and digging. There is quite a lot of schlepping plants from the truck, debris back to the truck, and the endless hauling of hoses. I swear I’m going to buy one of those Fitbits. The customers can start paying me by the mile, instead of by the hour!

Just when you think Donald Trump can’t get more whatever he is, he does it again. He blamed the President for letting the Orlando shooter's parents into the country. The 29 year old was born in Queens. Do the math, Donald, that would be Ronald Reagan.

The saddest thing of all is the skyrocketing of AR-15 gun sales. Why does any common sense gun regulation discussion immediately go to “they are taking away our Second Amendment rights?”

I know guns. I grew up in gun country. We had them all over the house. Dad had a hunting camp with shooting ranges. We shot all sorts of weapons as children. We were knocked off our feet from the kick back.

I had a lively debate with a family member about the use of assault rifles. He insisted we need them to protect ourselves from the government. My response was, “Dude, they have nukes. Good luck with that.”