Happy post Solstice to all my friends over the back fence..... Maddie here, just hanging over the foliage in the dry heat. Anyone got any sweet iced tea? I need to make another gallon myself......I go through it like water. Since I last poked me head in, the beans are now deffinately twinning around the very long cane poles FINALLY and the lonen cuke is showing signs of taking off and needing it's own pole soon. 12 leaves on the rhubarb, radishes appear to be more carroty in appearances, but they'll do, and with this heat, will pack a heat all their own.The nasturtiums have finally started cranking out flowers. I was almost disappointed with the colors until the darker red ones started showing up. James will enjoy the spicy leaves in his salad, and despite that I'd like to toss in some flowers to the salad, he wants the seeds for pickling....I shoulda planted more, eh? I got tired of the lack of success of the burgundy okra in the peat pots and sowed three seeds per finger poke and have noticed a veritable population explosion lately. The solution for the rabbits was to take a two day sweeping of Smeagol, Sugar (the canines) and the two felines and spread it around the top and around the newly planted beans, and it worked. No more munching to the nubbings. The long drupe mulberries are now gone, and I've managed to thoroughly enjoy the retrieval of the two wheeled garden cart immensely. The containers that I managed to cram into the Buick station wagon has made me happy just because it's reuniting old friends. I have two different California poppies that successfully germinated in gravel topped pots. Unexpected surprises in one trumpet lily that I think is "Shiloah" one of six that were bred in commemoration of the National Parks. No signs of Yellowstone or Yosemite or Shannadoah.....and I may have lost my Dragon lilies as well (I have since recognized them as Regal lilies) and no triple daylilies whatsoever, so I will have to seek a source for replacements as they are tougher than woodpecker's lips........ Out front in a five gallon bucket, there appeared though, two varieties of daylilies that I will now have to look up their identities. I'd post pictures, but I don't have access to the binaries site.........ah well.......for those who'd like a minimized picture, holler at me and I'll send you a peek........ The two birdbaths have gone to very good use as well, and the word is out and I'm seeing signs of moisture loving birds in the dry spell that we're experiencing lately. The funniest thing was today my old feline, Pester's decided to take it upon himselfl to stretch himself and drink from the one in the back yard. Above him, the wrens and finches scolded him until he'd had his fill and sauntered off. No annimosity or urge to hunt or maime, just to drink and be arrogant....it was hilarious and I got a great picture of him drinking..... The pink Mexican primroses are about done and I'll gather seed pods soon for plants of my own, and on my walk home from the library, I've taken to pinching back spent blossoms so I'll have seeds to zinnias. Along my walks, to and from, I've also taken to using my digital skills at capturing faces and discovered a most impressive hydrangea that I had to capture. awesome! And the Southern Magnolia's still crank out lemony scented HUGE blossoms that are as large as my head! Makes me appreciate these magestic old ladies and their much loved age and maturity. I've begun to make a mental note of perennials to replace when I settle down eventually into our own place and I know this next time and gardens will not be quite the same as they were. I'm getting a better perspective of my own capabilities as well, and were it not for the restrictions of plant material, I'd have already transformed the yard around this house into wow......the limit of plants has been my only problem. (and lack of not only funds, but of the previous bounty of division capabilities I never utilized......still learning as I go through this road) Not having been successful with herbs before, I am now about to whack the oregano and lemon verbena back by 2/3rds as it's about to flower. I probably should have whacked earlier, but the heat wave is in ernest now. I will write when there is more to inspire and share. I hope your summers are good to you. all my love and still waiting to hear about your gardens.
madgardener up in the bowl, surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest and Appalachians and gardening in zone 7b