This summer my family spent a week at the beach with my cousin, and the kids splashed in the ocean. We spent almost three weeks with my husband's family in Iowa. The kids loved seeing their other grandparents and playing with older cousins. We finally got home last week after all of our galavanting and were met with a horrifying sight.

Mom was nice enough to drive the lawnmower around our yard, but her largess did not extend to weeding. My flowerbeds were atrocious. I don't even want to mention the vegetable garden.

Yesterday I delivered the kids to Grandma, and rolled up my sleeves. (Apparently she's more interested in babysitting than weeding).

My trusty wheelbarrow and I got a good workout as we removed an embarrassing heap of weeds from my perennial berm. A fair amount of Canada thistle, wild aster, clover, amaranth and other unwelcome volunteers had invaded. A Russian Olive tree seedling had even snuck in. It must not have heard about glasnost.

After pulling what I could, and getting Jon to weed whack what I couldnÕt, the next step was chemical attack. Once down to bare dirt, a combination of a pre-emergent herbicide and a contact killer, like Roundup should keep the weeds at bay-at least for a while. A healthy skirting of mulch is the next step. Don't be too stingy with mulch. IÕve learned the hard way that you need at least 3" or else the more aggressive weeds just laugh at you.

Despite the heat and backbreaking labor, I did enjoy my day weeding. I discovered plants I forgot I had. After my baptisia bloomed in the spring, it got completely surrounded with weeds and I almost missed the attractive black seedpods.

My Resurrection lily is blooming profusely. What an interesting plant. The foliage comes up in the spring, then fades away without flowering. If you patiently wait until the end of July, you are rewarded with a profusion of pink lilies on spare stems.

I was happy to see that my irises were still marked from the spring, patiently waiting to be divided. That can be done anytime now. Maybe IÕll get to it next week.

Fall-blooming sedums and asters are budded and beginning to bloom. Summer garden phlox still looks good, though it did not benefit from the shade offered by the weeds. Black-eyed Susans are the star attraction now, though are beginning to bully their way into other spaces and need a bit of restraint. A few holes emerged that will soon be filled with Russian sage, a new red yarrow, and a few others that have recently caught my eye.

This year my peony bushes are looking a little more ratty than usual. The cool weather and moisture has exacerbated the powdery mildew problems often seen on monarda, peonies, phlox, lilacs, and heliopsis. While unattractive, it is usually not fatal. I trimmed my peonies back a bit, but I wouldnÕt recommend cutting them to the ground yet.

A yearling lilac bush has already set buds for next spring, reminding me it is too late to prune spring bloomers for fear of losing flowers. Jon did cut back the yew bushes that were blocking the entrance to the house. New electric hedge trimmers made that job much more tolerable. I'll never forget my father- in-law doing that job with a pocket knife two years ago.

Perhaps most satisfying, was looking over my shoulder at the now-orderly bed. It's not often we can see real progress made. Our gardens reward us with a continual display if we just give them a little time and effort.

Now I guess I have to clean my house.