beautiful weather for gardening, 8/30

the weather was perfect for gardening today. no heat, no humidity and very little sunshine. we couldn't have asked for a better morning to work on the beds. my thanks to katrina and nancy for coming out today, but katrina will have to hang out a little later to help us with breakfast!

we enjoyed fresh baked cheese and chive scones today.

while working in the perennial garden, darry found this beauty. a black and yellow garden spider (argiope aurantia), she was hanging out in her web enjoying a little breakfast! don't you just love the zig-zag running through the web. her mate made that design for her and then she most likely killed him! you go girl!!!

another shot of the lady and her web.

the main garden and some of the herb beds. it still looks great even though the summer is drawing to a close.

i love the color of this celosia, the little yellow soldier beetles add a nice contrast...

another plant(black eyed susans-rudbeckia) in the rain garden succumbed to the dreaded southern blight! nancy and i dug it out, removed some of the soil around it and tossed it into the trash. it is spread by water and we did have some rain this week so i hope we can stop the spread but it is likely to show up again.

not much else to report, come on out for a visit and see what we have done this year.

time flies, 8/23 update

where have the days gone? i must have fallen asleep like rip van winkle; i've opened my eyes to see that summer is almost over. as much as i hate the heat and humidity, i am not looking forward to the impending changes. winter is not my favorite time. with the exception of the holiday season, i dread the winter months. considering it is late summer, the garden still looks pretty good. we have had a wonderful crew showing up to lend a hand and to all of them, i say thanks!

can you stand one more picture of the rain garden? here is the basin in late summer. still plenty of blooms to keep it colorful.

the junior beds are a riot of color thanks to all of the annuals.

i just love the zinnias in the junior beds, they are such happy colors. the skippers like them too!

skippers aren't picky, they like cosmos too.

a pollen packed green bee on a coneflower in the rain garden.

not sure what these buggers are but they are all over the hibiscus. send them packing please!

i apologize for the poor photo, my camera doesn't do well with close up shots.

august 16, garden update

the garden looks pretty good considering the lack of rain and the fact that it is late in the season for some of the plants. a little weeding, dead heading and removal will spruce things up but a good soaking will work wonders too-anyone know a good rain dance?

we were confronted with the fact that deer apparently like okra leaves. they ate the leaves off every okra plant in the garden and we have them in various locations; the vegetable garden, the junior master garden and in the edible flower bed.

at least they left the flowers alone, they are so pretty

the hibiscus in one of the plant trial beds are dropping seeds. last week i gathered a few plantlets and put them in a pot. they are actually growing now and hopefully, i will get a plant or two out of them.

mexican petunias are also very pretty

the zinnias in the junior master garden beds are so colorful

the beauty berry bush in the rain garden is covered in berries

a close up of the berries

back on line!!!

after enduring a week of no phone/internet because of storm damage, i am happy to say that i am once again on line! the garden looks great and this week we were joined by nancy; we pigged out on warm from the oven zucchini cake as we worked in the garden.

the crown jewel in the edible flower bed, our lemon queen sunflower plant which is part of the great sunflower project.

when i sat down to do the count this week, there were at least 30 flowers in bloom and all kinds of bees flying around the plant.

a close up of one of the blooms with a pollen packed honeybee gathering nectar.

this junior master garden bed is chock full of flowers, herbs and egg plants.

all of the junior beds look great this year

beautiful sages in the herb wheel garden

echinacea, white swan, in the rock garden

the angel trumpet vine is planning to take over the garden. if you listen carefully you'd swear it was saying FEED ME SEYMORE, FEEEEED MEEE!!! (think little shop of horrors...)

chive blossoms are beautiful

spectacular grasses in the grass garden are ready to send out their plumes.

liriope, so pretty, so invasive. a true double edged sword...

lagging behind, garden update for 7/26 and 8/2

it has been a busy week for us and i never did get a chance to update the everyone with all of the photos i have taken. we were joined in the garden on 7/26 by cherri and the three of us made some headway with weeds. these are some of the photos of what was going on in the garden, the second section of photos is all mushrooms! the rain has brought all kinds of things out in the garden!

i am a participant in the great sunflower project and this is one of the plants i use to count bees. when i took this photo on 7/26, it was getting ready to bloom and i was excited to see how tall it had gotten, about 8 feet. unfortunately, some inconsiderate jerk cut off the top and most likely the largest bloom and i never got to see it after it opened!

the remaining blooms that have opened, today it took me only 10 minutes to count the 5 bees visiting the flowers.

so pretty and when it is done, the goldfinches will have seeds to eat

beautiful sage

mmm...basil

zinnias

perennial garden

jim miles bee nectar garden-it is so full of bees and butterflies that you almost think we stock it like a fish pond

another view of the bee nectar garden

cosmos

cosmos

more cosmos

the last photo i took on 7/26, our main attraction-the rain garden, isn't it beautiful?

the fungus among us in the garden...

they will grow anywhere

in the junior master gardeners bed with the basil

the day lilies had some in the bed and some on the bed

these were in the bed of day lilies, they are a pretty lavender color

along the banks of the stream bed in the rain garden

come on out and join us some time, who knows what we will find next.