As we start out on our walk we go past the garden.  And when I looked in I saw these sunflowers.  They are up about 15 feet!!!  Jon had to put extenders on the support poles.  Hahaha!!!

 

This is only one end of the garden;  the sunflowers are throughout.  There are at least 25 towering above the whole garden.  And when we look out from the porch we can see the goldfinches flitting in and out.  They are happy and so are we!!! 

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANNY!!!

 

Wow!!!  Have you seen the Sumacs lately?  They are all getting ready to bloom, and there are hundreds of them in the neighborhood, and all around.  As we got close enough to take a picture we could hear the bees buzzing all over them, looking for nectar.  They will be in hog heaven in about a week, with flowers galore!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Who notices these things?  Jon.  On our walk the other day he saw this huge caterpillar creeping along.  It was about the size of my longest finger!!!

 

I put the Seek app on it and guess what?  It said:  Luna Moth.  Yoo-hoo!!  We love these.  We may or may not get to see it after it cocoons and emerges, but at least we know that they are around somewhere close by.  

 

I hope you get to see them in your travels.  They are fabulous!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend gave me this plant, and I put it in the garden before we went on our trip.  It is Portulaca, and isn't it pretty?  

 

I put it near the entrance to the garden, so that when I step into the garden I am greeted by these sweet yellow flowers.  I love this little splash of sunshine.  Thanks, Priscilla.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

We also dug up all the garlic.  Not too impressive.  Lesson here?  Buy new seed garlic every year.  

 

When we plant fresh seed garlic we get good results.  When I replant garlic cloves that I grew, they are kinda small.  And these are so small that cleaning them is going to take a long time.  Oh, well.  It's garlic, right?

 

I will do better this October.  Buy the fresh bulbs to plant.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We harvested our crop of red onions!!!`  I planted them back in March;  I think there were a hundred tiny red onion sets.  They've been growing all spring, and here they are drying in the basement.  I counted 45.  Yay!!!

 

I love growing these in my garden.  They are exactly the size that I would buy if the store ever sold ones this small.  We always have to get the great big ones, then throw away some, unused.  How much can you really use at any one time?  Anyway, these will keep in the basement about 6 months.  We should be able to use them all.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Thanks, Patty for painting the haybale and setting up your fun folk art.  We love seeing it when we turn that corner entering the neighborhood.  

 

 

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, 2026!!!

 

Remember our Carolina Sweetshrub growing in Meeks Park?  I show it to you every spring.  Well, we were in Murphy earlier in the week, and I saw this bush.  It looked very familiar to me, but I couldn't be sure, so I let my SEEK app identify it for me.  It said Carolina Sweetshrub, Calycanthus floridus, same genus and species as the ones in the park.

 

Funny thing though, these leaves and flowers are about three times bigger than the ones in the park.  Hmmm.  I wonder if it is the difference between native/wild and cultivated.  Maybe this one came from a plant nursery.  It is growing in a prominent place downtown, so it had to have been planted there, not just wild.  Anyway, I will be looking to see if this one is available, and if it is indeed the same thing.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Yay!!!  The zucchinis are doing great!!!  All 18 plants are growing well.  Some even have little baby zucchinis on them.  These variegated plants in the foreground grow gray zucchinis.  The skin is very tender, and easily scratched, so you don't see them very often in the grocery store.  We have seen them at the farmers' market, but I love growing them myself.  They are so good.  The ones farther along the row are Black Beauties, the dark green heirloom variety.  I love them all.  And these are looking great!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look how beautiful the leeks are this week.  They had just started blooming when we left for our road trip, and when we got back the following week they were bursting at the seams.  

 

Leeks bloom the second year, and when they do that the leek part is too tough to use in the kitchen.  But it is totally worth it to me to let them go to flower and seed.  They are beautiful, and I can save the seeds to replant.  Round and around we go.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!