Saturday morning we were driving south to Blairsville, and we passed this row of sunflowers.  There was no place to pull over and take a picture, so I took this picture on the fly.  

 

When we got home and I looked at the picture, I noticed that the flower heads are facing east, with their backs to us.  Sunflowers are phototropic, meaning they move in response to their source of light;  and heliotropic, their source of light being the sun.  

 

I guess a better time of day to get a picture of these sunflowers is evening when they are facing west.   Another day...

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I noticed this moth on our front door the other day.  It hung around for a long time.  When I put the Seek app on it, it said Promethea Silk Moth,   So I looked it up, and the picture was the same as this one, except the wings were all the way flat open.  Callosamia promethea, also called Spicebush silk moth, has a wingspan of 3-4 inches, and it is beautiful.

 

These moths use Tulip Poplars, Sassafras, and Spicebush as their host plants, and we have plenty of all those around here.  

 

I love seeing something new, and this was it.  I hope you enjoyed seeing it too.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look at these interesting cherry tomatoes.  They are Indigo Rose.  My friend saved seeds last year, and we planted them this spring.  When they first started fruiting on the bush they were gorgeous green and dark purple.  I wasn't sure when to pick them, but then one day I noticed one turning red on the bottom.  I guess that's what they do.

 

So we are harvesting about ten each day, and they are delicious.  More than a single bite cherry tomato, we have to cut them, but they are great in salads.  And aren't they pretty?

 

I love trying something new every year.  We will probably grow these again.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday we had enough cucumbers to make a batch of pickles.  Yay!!!  This bowl full of cucumber and onion slices is enough for seven pints of Refrigerator Dills.  The recipe in the Ball Blue Book is delicious and so simple;  it doesn't require canning, and the pickles stay crisp.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I know I've shown you the Mullein flowers this year, but last month I cut off one tall spike, and this is what has grown back.  There are about 12 more spikes shooting up from the main plant.  

 

OK, I'm going out there today and cut off the rest of the tall ones, because I love this.  They are so pretty!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I usually show you blueberries on the bushes, but this year there are almost as many on the ground!!!  

 

We get out there and pick them almost every day, but we just can't get to them all.  I think the birds get in there, and with their fluttering knock some off the branches, but we also drop a lot when we are picking.  Then there are the ones we just can't reach, and when they get ripe they fall.   

 

So even the ground under the bushes are beautifully blue.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

On my way home from Violet's I saw these two deer.  Appearently they saw me too, and posed for their portrait.  

 

There are lots of youngsters about these days, and they don't know about cars yet, so please go slow around the curves.  They seem to pop up out of nowhere.  

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

This is Violet's other Hibiscus.  Each flower is as big as a dinner plate.  They are fabulous!!  The plant is in a huge pot on the deck, and about a dozen blossoms open every day.  

 

It is a tropical plant, and doesn't survive our winters outside.  But she cuts them all the way back and puts them in her garage attic.  She told me that she gives them a little water every couple weeks.  And they do this every year in the summer.

 

 

FABULOUS!!!

 

This is my echinacea.  It grows so easily from seeds.  Just clip off the flower head, throw it on the ground, and wait a couple years.  Here's the thing about perennials:  the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap.  So you have to wait a bit, but once they get going, they grow beautifully year after year.

 

Echinacea is beautiful through several seasons:  blooming all summer, then providing food for the birds into the fall.  And we love to stick the dried seed pods into our flower pots in winter to keep the deer from eating our pansies.  Sometimes it works.

 

Try growing echinacea in your garden.  You will be glad you did.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

The Echinacea is back!!!!  Two years ago the deer devoured it, so we put up a fence and a gate.  And this year it has come back.  There is echinacea from our front porch entrance, all the way down the stairs to the basement.  It is gorgeous!!!!

 

I am so happy.  I don't love the fence, but everybody loves the echinacea, so it's worth it.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!