I heard on the radio that a mere 3/10 of an inch of rain fell the entire month of June. I feel totally aware of that fact. I have spent the last several weeks wrestling with hoses. Vinyl hoses should be banned.

I have an annual rant about hoses. I missed my calling in advertising. Black, all rubber, American-made, Goodyear hoses are the only way to go. I bought boatloads of them for $27 at Home Depot.

The totally annoying 50-foot vinyl ones preferred by most of my customers are twice that in price. The vinyl always kinks and will not roll back into a nice supple coil.

I’ve left my rubber ones outside all winter and ran over them with the dump truck. They still keep working.

Now that I finally feel that I can come up for air, the next batch of garden tasks is looming. How do the weeds survive so well in this droughty situation?

It’s time to begin the summer deadheading. Little Princess spirea has just finished blooming but will give you two more flowerings if cut back right now.

The Blue Queen salvia is another constant bloomer if the spent stalks are removed weekly. I snip down to the Y where two new buds are beginning to show. Removing the dead leaves from daylilies keeps them looking their best. Do it carefully, however, so as not to break an emerging bud.

I do like the old-fashioned orange daylilies which carry their flowers high above the foliage. They are especially nice with blue hydrangea. Speaking of blue, check out the pot of true blue plumbago (auriculata) aka Cape leadwort in front of Lorraine Parish on State Road just leaving Vineyard Haven on the right.

I love that plant. It is not hardy here in zone 7A but will winter over in an unheated back room. I cut mine within an inch of their lives in the fall. They look ghastly all winter but a dose of Pro-Gro brings them right along in the spring.

Another observation I made this past week was the clever display at Hinckley’s on Beach Road. A painter’s stepladder has some random paint cans with flowers spilling out of them. The cans are drizzled with matching color. Good job!

There seems to be a lot of ticks this year. I’ve been picking both types off myself everyday. I keep a roll of Scotch tape handy to trap them. Remarkably, I have never had Lyme disease — knock wood.

The big news this past week was the vote to leave the European Union in England. The ramifications of that decision have yet to be seen. We all know it was a vote to exclude immigrants. How ironic that England colonized the entire globe — “The sun never set on the British empire” — and now it wants to keep the world out.

Donald Trump’s remarks in Scotland were subject to much ridicule. I read some of the names used to describe him by the Scots. I had never heard of most of them. An English friend told me that the British love to put swear words together and form new words.

How sad that everyone seems to fear and/or loathe the other today. Have mercy.