Update #6

Hello again!

Here are the "black-eyed susans" that sprang up after we cut the tree down. They may not be black-eyed susans but they look similar.



The clematis and daylilies in front of the garage.

Every day Aubrey and I pull off every dead daylily around the property, and I think it has helped them bloom better this year than in previous years. I don't remember having that many blooming at once before.

The ivy. It's surviving and growing slowly. I imagine next year it will take over the wall a little more. We should weed that area better. I left the volunteer tomato and volunteer squash/melon plant because I can't bring myself to pull them up.

Aubrey wants the camera because, she says, she can take better pictures than I can.

Asparagus (left) and pole beans (center). The asparagus seems to have dropped seeds which sprouted and grew little tiny asparagus shoots, really ferny, not edible. Jason and I are wondering if these will be producers next year?

Mystery plant in the compost. Any ideas? Click photo to enlarge.

Hydrangea!

The sweet peas are blooming! This photo has poor lighting but you might be able to make out the blossoms at the top. They smell terrific! As you can see, we've made no move to rescue the baskets from full deterioration.

Yesterday's zucchini harvest! The biggest harvest we've ever had. Very exciting! Before yesterday we had picked about 4 or 5 total. These will be made into zucchini relish one of these days. Thanks again for the recipe.

Remember last year when I planted lilies in the front yard and the squirrels ate the bulbs? They missed one, which laid in hiding for a full year before finally growing this spring. It doesn't match the other lilies as I had planned. But it's gorgeous! About 7 inches across.

That's it for the garden for now. I made an appointment for Aubrey to get portraits at JCPenney this morning, but she conked out for a nap and slept through it - I didn't want to wake her up, particularly since she had been putting off the nap all morning and finally fell asleep. So I rescheduled for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Update #5

Hello! Here is the photo I picked for us, with just a little enhancing in Photoshop. I didn't have to do anything drastic. I thought you might like to have it, but if you already have your own picked out, c'est la vie.


And here is our family picture.


I think you can save them by clicking on them and then clicking File...Save.

Since this is a garden blog I think I can post about your garden as well! We really enjoyed being able to see it.


I love the colors in these flowers.

Now for our garden. A lot happened while we were gone. Some of the hostas are blooming.

We've got about 5 tomatoes formed, including this guy:

Something is eating the beet leaves. :(

The wildflowers are lovely! Lots of blues, pinks and purples. Since I took this photo a couple of days ago, there are twice as many flowers now.

Some pretty lilies in the front yard.

The hypericum is flowering nicely.

The eggplant produced one fruit, which got eaten by some animal, but there is another fruit on it now and Jason is going to sprinkle the plants generously with chili powder.

The black raspberry is producing more than ever before! Here's what we picked the day after we got back.

Two pints or so. And every day since then we've picked about a cup. Jason made a couple of tarts for dessert the other night, but we've frozen the rest so we can make a lot of jam.

We've picked 2 zucchini and a yellow squash, and 7-8 more will be ready in a few days.

Where we cut down the tree between us and the neighbor, a lot of black-eyed susans appeared - the sunlight helped them really take off. It's nice to have that tree gone.

That's all for now! Hope you are having a nice week.