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!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Thought you'd like to see the big picture: This year's garden.  
 

This is what I see every morning when I go out to the garden.  Everything looks SO good!  I'm not sure what is doing the best, it's ALL looking great!!!  I guess this is an example of a First World problem:  over-abundance!!!  I wish Momma could see these pix, she'd be impressed.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We've seen lots of babies in the last few weeks.  Tis the season!

 

Remember to drive slower than usual, especially around the curves.  "Thanks" from all the momma deer.

 

SAFE TRAVELS!!!

 

 

Our Hosta this year.  We love it.  Great plant for your shade garden:  perennial, drought tolerant, attractive to hummingbirds, and beautiful!!
 

On a trip to Asheville in 2004, I collected seeds from the hostas at The Balsam Mountain Inn.  I planted them when we got home, and they've been living in this spot ever since.  Of course, when they bloom we have to protect them from the deer.  They'll come right onto the deck and eat the flowers.  That's ok, we just set up a barrier every night, for as long as they bloom.  
 

We have a friend who is a retired Army Ranger, and he calls them "hostages."  Makes me laugh, but that's how he remembers the name.  And another old man friend who travelled a lot, calls them "hostels."  Whatever works, right?  
 

Anyway, hostas are lovely plants for those of us with shade gardens.  Most gardeners are happy to share when they divide theirs;  or just plant the seeds, it can't be any easier than that.   Let me share with you some of Momma's garden wisdom:  She said, "If you plant it, it might not grow.  But if you don't plant it, it surely won't grow."  So just give them a try.  You've got nothing to lose.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This year we added new soil from our compost bin to the garden.  And this sprouted, so I left it to see what it might turn out to be.  
 

Let's talk about composting.  We take vegetable scraps from the kitchen, and put them in a wire cage outside.  The cage is in the shade, fairly close to the kitchen for convenience.  Next to the compost bin is another wire cage filled with leaves raked up from the yard.  Every time I add scraps to the compost I add a layer of dry leaves on top.  That's the plan:  wet, dry, wet, dry.   And after a few years we have new soil to add to the garden.  And it's FREE!!!

 

Just a few rules:  No meat, no dairy, no weeds with seeds.  We put in eggshells, coffee grounds, vegetable scraps, chicken bones (after we make stock), tea bags, the trash from cooking our Halloween pumpkins.  Hahaha!!!  That's where this beautiful pumpkin came from:  the compost bin!!!

 

I'm so glad it planted itself next to the post that holds up the cucumbers.  I don't know how much it weighs, but it's bigger than a basketball, and I'm guessing 10 - 15 pounds.  There are a couple more, still green.  This one has just started to turn orange.

 

This year's garden is making me SO happy.  We're growing things that we haven't grown in years!!!!  Wait til you see the...............

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

When I was taking pictures of Jim and Roxanne's lilies, I noticed their echinacea blooming.  They have purple ones from my garden, and some white ones that I think came from Betty James.  That's where I got mine.  
 

See that little flash of red?  That is echinacea too.  I thought the red ones were annual, but these come up every year.  
 

Their garden is always a delight.  Definitely worth the walk to see what's blooming.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!
 

 

 

 

These are the latest lilies to bloom in Roxanne's garden.  These are Star Gazer lilies, very popular and VERY fragrant  IMHO, (well, maybe not so humble, but) outside is the best place for them.  
 

Like all oriental lilies, Star Gazers grow from a bulb, and need to be planted in the fall in order to bloom the following spring and summer.  In our area, they are perennial, meaning they come back every year.  Lilies like full sun to partial shade.  These are in heavy shade, but they've been blooming here for years!!
 

I have a great bulb catalog from Gloucester, VA, and they also have an online catalog.  https://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/  This is the time of year to start thinking about ordering your bulbs for the fall.  Lilium bulbs ship in October, but you can start thinking about next year's garden now.  At least go check out their catalog.  You may get inspiration.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!