The Bee Balm is blooming!!!  Isn’t it gorgeous?  

 

It stands about 4 feet tall, and the spread is about 6 feet wide.  I don’t remember when I planted it, but it has been growing here for at least 10 years.  Best part:  it is perennial, so I don’t have to replant it, or reseed it.  It just keeps coming up in the same spot, spreading each year.  This spring when it started coming up we put 5 round tomato cages around it, and guided the stems to stay inside the cages.  And it worked!!!  It hasn’t blown over in high wind, or flopped over in heavy rain.

 

And I am not the only one;  the bees and hummingbirds love it too.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I thought you’d be happy to know that I didn’t sacrifice the WHOLE arugula bed for the sweet potato slips.  I planted 5 sweet potato plants and seeded the rest of the bed with arugula.  And this is what we have so far.  Perfect.

 

The best of both worlds.

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

The cucumbers are doing great!  We have already picked 15, and there are a bunch of flowers and baby ones.

 

I love summer!  Oh, wait, that doesn’t come til later this afternoon:  June 20, 2024 @ 4:51pm.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Isn’t she beautiful!!!  She stands about 6 feet tall.  I am looking up to take her picture.

 

This sunflower planted herself at the end of last summer.  It was one of the first to emerge this spring.  I know she planted herself because she is jammed up against the cucumber trellis:  a spot I would have never planted a seed.

 

But I let it stay, because I love them so much!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Yikes!!!  This was Saturday, June 15, 2024, at 1:40 pm.  

 

THAT IS JUST TOO HOT!!!

 

 

NO GARDENING TODAY!!!

 

Hahaha!!!  I am not the only one to let broccoli go to flower!!!

 

This is a broccoli plant in my friends’ garden.  It stands about 3 feet tall and has exploded into bloom.  

 

When I saw it I fell out laughing.  It is THAT beautiful!!!  Blue-green with yellow flowers.  All edible, and all lovely!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I saw this, and had to laugh.  Thought you might get a tickle out of it too.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We were on our loop walk the other day and noticed (for the first time) a Mulberry Tree.  A mulberry tree with mulberries!!!

 

My picture isn’t great, but I circled the berries so you could better see them.  Really, we were so busy picking and eating the berries, that I almost forgot to take a picture.  

 

For identification purposes, the leaves are large and heart shaped, and the berries are elongated like blackberries, hanging under the leaves.  As soon as they turn red they are sweet and ready to pick.  I think they taste like strawberries.   

 

After we saw this one we noticed another one along the road to town.  We noticed it because the road beneath it was dark red.  And when we looked up we saw Mulberries!!!!

 

Be on the lookout.  There may be a tree near you.  Oh, yeah, I didn’t need it, but the Seek app positively identified it as Red Mulberry.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

It’s been a few years since we’ve seen Indian pipes.  But we saw these blooming in the park a few days ago.  

 

Indian Pipes are very interesting.  They grow in clumps like this near their source of fungus.  You can see how small they are, just 2-4 inches tall.  Their leaves are just scaly bits along the stems, and they have no chlorophyll.  Since they don’t have chlorophyll they need no sunlight, and can grow in the deepest, darkest part of the forest.  They appear in early summer to early autumn, usually a few days after rainfall.  

 

That’s all I know.  Except that I love seeing them on a walk.  I hope you see some in your travels.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I do love seeing butterflies enjoying my flowers!!!  That’s one of the best reasons for planting them.  

 

I love the marigolds, and they are so easy to grow from seeds.  But it makes me happy to know that I’m not the only one.  All day long we see butterflies flittering in and out of the garden to enjoy the flowers.  This is a Fritillary on the marigold.  We’ve seen lots of them since the marigolds started to bloom.  

 

I hope you plant flowers, so you get to see butterflies in your garden.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!