Just taking a trip down memory lane, and look what I found.  This is the garden last February.  What a difference!!!!  I love living here where we get to experience all four seasons.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

One of our favorite garden plants:  borage.  I love seeing these flowers, but, then again, I love everything with blue flowers.  
 

Since the days of Pliny, borage has been extolled for its power to make men merry and joyful.  And into medieval times borage leaves and flowers steeped in wine were a popular remedy for melancholy.  I think it's the pleasure of the bright blue flowers that lifts our spirits.  
 

The flowers and leaves are edible, and smell a bit like cucumbers.  We put the flowers in salads, and I've seen bakers who candy the flowers and use them to decorate cakes and cookies.  

 

We  plant borage near the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.  It deters the tomato hornworms, which can destroy your tomato plants.  (Sounds like a good subject for a blog.)  I'll get back to you on tomato hornworms.  They are very interesting.
 

Today, I just want to share these beautiful blue star flowers.  I've got lots of seeds if you want to plant some in your garden.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

Bee balm, Monarda spp. is a perennial plant in the mint family.  That means:  it will come back every year and spread far and wide.  So think carefully before you plant it.  Choose a place where it can spread out, or put it in a pot, if you don't have room for it to spread out.  
 

Bee balm, is also called Oswego tea, and is especially attractive to butterflies, bumblebees, and hummingbirds, as a nectar source.  We add the flower petals to our salads.  It's a little spicy, and beautiful.  I collected seeds from this stand, so I can grow some in my garden.  I love it!!!
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Do you know this shrub?  Vitex angus-castus, (chaste tree.)  It is a fast growing deciduous shrub, with gorgeous spikes of fragrant lavender flowers that bloom in late summer.  They grow well in this area, to about 10 feet tall.
 

These particular bushes are in Blue Ridge, planted as screening borders between the Home Depot and the Walmart.  You can probably find them at your local nursery or wherever you buy your landscape plants.  So pretty.  So striking!!!
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Our Night blooming Cereus bloomed this week!!!  It started about 10 pm, and opened slowly.  Beautiful and fragrant.  When it started getting light the next morning, it closed up.  That was it!!!

 

My friend gave it to me about 5 years ago, and last year was the first time it bloomed for us.   We were so excited this year for it to do it again.  I wish we could have a party to share its glory.  Maybe next year....

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

HMMMMM...  What to do with all those blueberries?  A bunch of folks have come over to pick them;  thank you!!!  Even the bear picked some!!  But we still have a LOT!!!  They should be finished by the end of July, until next year.  In the meantime, we are eating blueberries everyday.  In salads, in scones, just out of the bowl. Love them.  

 

For a special treat, we make blueberry pie; it takes 6 cups of berries.  We use a single pie recipe, and turn it into 3 small pies.  That way, we get to have pie, but not too much.  And two of our friends get to have some too.  
 

I'll put the recipe in the recipe section.  It's under the neighbors sharing section.  You can add a recipe too, if you like.  Or send it to me by email, and I'll add it.  I think it's called ghost writing.  
 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

Same pumpkin, just a few days later!!!!!!  I wonder if it's normal for this time of year, or is it connected to no rain lately?  Don't know.  
 

I love the mystery of the garden.  I hope you enjoy my pix.  I love sharing them with you.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Last week in Meeks Park, we saw this Hickory tree sporting these mushrooms.  Interesting enough to take a picture.  But I didn't use my Seek app to identify it.  When we went back to the park less than a week later, we saw the same mushrooms looking like this:

 

This time I used Seek to identify them.  They are Veiled Oyster, Pleurotus dryinus.  Wow!!  What a transformation as they "bloomed."

 

It makes me think about growing my own mushrooms.  I ordered mushroom plugs from Sow True Seed, my favorite local seed catalog.  We'll start our mushrooms this winter.  If you are interested in cultivating your own mushrooms, go to https://sowtrueseed.com/ and search for shiitake, or reishi, and you'll see how to grow them.  The process looks complex but doable.  I'm excited.  
 

I love seeing stuff like this, and love sharing with you.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

Last week we went swimming with our friends, the Lachances, in Lake Hiwassee.  
 

And who showed up?   Tom Cruise.  Right here in Murphy, NC!!!  How lucky are we, to get to hang out with a movie star?  What a fun time.  
 

Psst....it's Riley Lachance, almost 20, looking like a movie star.  
 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!
 

 

 

 

 

I'm not trying to make fake news, but doesn't this look like some of those yeti sightings?  
 

Truthfully, it's a juvenile black bear who visited our blueberry bushes last Saturday.  We were sitting on the porch, and the deer in the driveway spun around at the sound of something near the compost bin.  So we looked up to see what had spooked them.  And there was the bear.

 

 

Exciting, and terrifying all at the same time.  Too close!!!  He went down the path toward the garden.  Next thing we saw was the blueberry bushes shaking.

 

 

After he ate a bunch of berries, he cut through the garden, and seeing nothing there he wanted, moved on to the bird feeders.  I got a really good picture of him there, helping himself to the birdseed on the tray.  

 

 

We were thrilled with our experience.  It lasted about 15 minutes.  I hope you enjoyed our story.  
 

HAPPY CRITTER SIGHTING!!!