The End of June

Zinnia's budding...

Rudbeckia opening up...

Some garden junk...thanks Dad! :)

Verbascum "Southern Charm"...isn't it heaven? Ok, well the flowers are starting to fall but I still love it. Lol* My mantra to this plant..."please seed and spread, please seed and spread". :)

Pumpkins, male bloom...

Female bud...see the baby pumpkin?

I got the coolest compliment yesterday, from one of my neighbors. She walked over as I was planting some bargain buys, and told me how great things were looking. That she loved all of the colors, and that she thought it was the best the house has looked. I was so happy, and told her she really made my day! :) The biggest ego boosting part? She and her boyfriend are landscapers! Lol*

I love tooting around in the garden, and I love it, but you know some people just aren't into plants, and I get that, and respect it. I'm always a little self concious, thinking, "wonder if neighbors are driving by wondering what on earth I'm doing to the place?", so it felt so good to know there might be a few people who like it as much as I do, and maybe don't think it's just becoming a weedy jungle. Yay! :)

My first Daylily

It's a bit scrappy looking, but isn't it gorgeous? My first daylily bloom...

Yarrow...I'm amazed how this has grown in the few short weeks since I planted it. It was a gift from my MIL, she knew I'd wanted some and bought me a few varieties, just very small plants.

Those poppies are really going to town now! I adore these...I bought two packs this year, and I think I'm going to buy five or six packs next year and fill in this whole patch...

Then there's the lone bachelor button. Lol* This is the only one I've found that came back from last year! I love that it pushed it's way through a thick patch of rudbeckia. I dug A LOT in the patch they were in last year, so I imagine I probably did them in if there were any seedlings from them this spring. I'm happy to see this even just this one. :)

I cannot wait to see how my garden fills in next year. I more than doubled it this year, so most of the plants are new. Here's a couple pictures from last year:

Here's this year:

The round circular patch to the top left of the picture is where I planted all those daffodils, but I dug them up and they are drying on the kitchen counter. I'm going to put them in groups throughout the garden instead of all together for next year. The round patch I'm going to fill with plants (I still have many waiting to be plunked!) and eventually, this year or next, extend it over to the tripod where the sweet peas are and make a little grass garden path.

My Veggie Garden on July 3rd 2009

Hydrangea...this didn't bloom last year so I'm SO excited to see these gorgeous flowers forming!

The very untidy and crammed veggie patch. I did many things wrong this year, but now I know for next year. I am really enjoying watching things grow. Next year I will expand this by two or even three times it's size...it's been a lot of fun and I think, to actually get frood from your garden is just an incredible thought. :) I am thoroughly enjoying just watching the seeds turn into these masses of plants...it's amazing.

The pumpkins are flowering, how exciting is that?! I am going to try to hand pollinate them since I sprayed them with bug spray...whoops. I didn't know the bugs were necessary for pollination! LOL* I haven't found any female flowers yet, but from what I've been reading that's normal...so, just waiting. :)

Hope those bush beans can make it a few more weeks before being completely eveloped by pumpkin vines.

Finally, shirley poppies...

Yay! This morning I woke up to find two of the shirley poppies have bloomed! Finally!!! I have been anxiously awaiting these.

My garden is still very young, and it's been a real learning experience trying to pair plants and anticipiate their size next year. Here are some experiments I recently added...

Some kind of pink salvia, and english daisies...

Everyone in the garden is looking awfully wilty - it's been in the 90's...ugh. I didn't mulch this year to encourage reseeding. I'm hoping the garden will fill out well next year and I can add some ground covers to help cool it down in there a bit. Hopefully nobody fries between now and then.

My new bird bath...Dad do you want some california poppies? I have them coming out my ears...

Just a Short Few

Well I'm excited because I won a free year membership to one of the quilt guilds I attend! Woohoo! On the down side, I hadn't been in a few months, and I totally forgot about it and missed the meeting Monday. I was so bummed.

It's too hot to sew, so you know where I've been. Here's a shot of some california poppies from the garden. These are all volunteers from a pack of seeds I planted last year, that actually didn't really produce all that many poppies! They sure went crazy this year. I even pulled a ton of them out before I realized what they were. These are what's left. LOL* The shirley poppies I winter sowed have buds but haven't bloomed yet...sure hope they do soon, I'm so excited about those.

In the garden this morning...

Haven't posted in a while...been busy digging! I took a walk this morning to see how things are looking...it's coming along, and I'm feeling proud! Lol* It's not quite a cottage garden yet, but it's getting there. Some of my neighbors mentioned in conversation that they didn't like flowers...I bet they're loving the weedy view now huh? Lol* Will take some more pictures when the sun comes out...

Sweet peas are blooming! Yay!!! I debated on ripping these out, but I'm so glad I didn't. The picture just doesn't do the color justice...it looks fuschia here, but it's truly darker than this, more like a burgundy/wine rose color. Oh so pretty. These were 35 cent packs of seeds too! Lol*

Here's some new plantings at the end of the drive...rudbeckia are the two in the front, and in the back some gooseneck I bought for 50 cents at a yard sale. Still have a couple more of those in pots that need to be planted too.

Here's the delphinium which is now long gone after the rain we got last week. Wasn't it stunning? My MIL picked up a couple very young cherry blossom delph's, one is budding...hope it blooms this year! I've also since extended this flower bed...it's about double the size is as shown here...don't ask my why I planted this in between russian sage. Lol* I'm not moving the delph's but the sage might be another plant Dad is inheriting.

Sorry looking foxgloves...one Dad gave me for helping him paint, and one I picked up from Walmart...they are in full sun (from morning until about 2 or 3pm), hope that's not too much for them?

ORANGE lillies...enjoying them now because when their done they are going to my Dad...so pretty but just a little more orange than I can handle.

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