Summer Blooms

    It's been been a hot and dry summer here, and many plants are stressed out and some are even dying. You can even see the effects of the drought in the native plants and trees. I can't recall this ever happening before and I've lived in this area my whole life. 
     My dear friend gave me some hollyhocks seeds a couple of years ago, and they are blooming now. I've never grown them before but they are pretty, and very tall! This would have been a great year to try growing cantaloupe or even watermelon but by the time I decided to grow some it was too late to start them from seed. Maybe next year. Anyways, I spotted a new plant at my garden centre called a cucamelon, and I decided to give it a try.  They produce little "cucumbers" that look like little watermelons. They taste like cucumbers with a hint of lime. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them since my family isn't crazy about them, ha ha. There's a photo of them down at the bottom. 

Butterfly Bush and Nigella

Dahlia

Hollyhocks

Daisy

Pinks

Echinacea

Lily Lollypop

Hibiscus

Shirley Poppy

Shirley poppy

Shirley Poppy

Cucamelons

November Garden

     The dreaded first frost of autumn has yet to arrive, but it won't be long now so I took a few photos of my castor plants yesterday just to give you a chance to see how very tall they are now. The second photo was taken when I was standing beneath them looking up. The funny looking seed pods haven't turned brown yet, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to save any seed. I picked a few of the pods and placed them underneath our garden shed, in hopes that the rodents will find them tasty (insert evil laugh) since they are very poisonous. Don't try this if you have young children or pets that are likely to find them.  

     The Burning bush, or euonymus is a deciduous shrub with fiery red leaves in the fall and my only regret is that I didn't plant it in a location that I can see from the windows of my home. 

     A couple of years ago I decided to grow some plants in our unused fire pit, with Japanese blood grass in the middle for the fire. It's still a young plant but I am happy that it has survived with the shallow soil and nearly solid bottom of the fire pit. 

    My grape tomato plant is still producing tomatoes (photo from October) but I noticed a bit of blight on it yesterday so I have to say goodbye to garden tomatoes for another year. My bell pepper plant is still alive too, and I even found a red pepper on it in a couple of weeks ago, but I think that will be the last of them. 

    This past summer I had the pleasure of talking to Dave Ledoux from the BackToMyGarden podcast and you can find my interview here if you are interested in listening: BackToMyGarden 

Castor Bean Plant

Castor plant

Burning Bush

Burning Bush 

Burning Bush

Japanese Blood grass among hens and chicks

Chrysanthemums

Dahlias 

Tomato plant

Mini Bell Peppers

Maple Fairy Garden

August Blooms and a Wedding to Plan!

     Here are some flowers that are blooming in my early August garden. First off is my newest shrub, Hibiscus Blue Satin. I bought it so that I would have something blooming in my front yard in September. It started to bloom at the end of summer, even though it is quite small. I hope it will still be blooming in September.
      Next are a couple of photos of Cosmos, one of my daughter's favorites. I am hoping these will still be blooming in early October, for her wedding. Yup, my oldest child met an amazing man and is getting married and leaving the nest! What a change that will be. Then I will be the lone female in this household. Scary, ha ha.
      I'm growing a dahlia called Crazy Love this year. It was supposed to have more pink on it, according to the package photo.  Happy Gardening!

Hibiscus Blue Satin

Cosmos

Cosmos

Dahlia Crazy Love

Gladiola

Unknown flower

Echinacea Bright Star, having it's best season ever. I know, still not much, ha ha

Lavatera Novella Rose, a nice short variety

Daisy

Hydrangea bloom

Ground Cherries & Tiger's Birthday!

Ever heard of ground cherries before? Me neither, until I spotted the seeds for them in a garden catalog this past spring. The flavor sounded intriguing, a cross between pineapple and citrus flavor, so I ordered some seeds and grew them this past summer. After a long, long wait, and being a little nervous about poisoning myself eating an unripe one, I finally tasted my first ground cherry! Nope, couldn't describe the flavor but not pineapple...or orange. I had to get a second opinion, and my son figured it out: a cross between a pear and a tomato. Ok, so now what to do with them? Recipes are few and far between for ground cherries! First of all I made a pie, it tasted similar to apple. Next  I cooked up a sauce and made a spice cake. Between the two, I preferred the pie, but then again, I love pies.  Not planning on growing them next year, but it's always  fun to try new plants in the garden.  Our cat turned 12 yesterday, so I made cupcakes in her honor.

Ground Cherries in their husks

Ground Cherries

Unripe Ground Cherry...Don't eat!

 

Ground Cherry Sauce

One Last Gladiola

Yarrow

Dahlia

Our Kitty on her 12th Birthday

Yum!

Birds & Blooms in my Summer Garden

The Summer weather has finally arrived much to our delight here in the Pacific Northwest. A visiting chickadee considers a bath, since the water is just about perfect. This is my first time growing Cerinthe, and I am happy that the hummingbirds like feeding from it.   The Monarda looks like a flower one might find on an alien planet. Last of all is the one Jay who figured out how to get the peanuts, from the bird IQ test (feeder) I made recently.  What birds & blooms have been gracing your space lately?

Chickadee considering a bath

After his first dip

Cerinthe

Monarda or Bee Balm

Perennial Dianthus

Balloon Flower Bud

Shirley Poppy

Dahlia

Stellar's Jay