nature surprises

honey bee on milkweed blossomI am constantly awed by the variety and beauty of the plants I find growing at the fringes of my property. A small stand of milkweed has found an ideal location to grow amongst my rhus aromatica. As a child I was aware of milkweed for its pods full of seed parachutes that float on the wind and fill the air every summer. But I never realized until yesterday that milkweed flowers are so voluptuous and fragrant, like round lilacs. From the …continue reading

Don’t Make This Mistake!

About three weeks ago John and I went to a local nursery that we’ve used for the past 10+ years for our summer annuals.  We have a bed in front of the house that gets full sun, so we like to fill it with a mass planting of Celosia, a fleshy stemmed plant pretty common in commercial landscaping.  It’s showy, drought tolerant, pest-free, …continue reading

poppin' poppies

poppies_4503What more is there to say about these dramatic and colorful specimens? …continue reading

first poppy of the season

first_poppy_4403first-poppy-and-chickens_4404The first poppy of the season. I always consider this day the true start of the summer growing season. Note the chickens in the background. …continue reading

just another pretty marigold picture

marigold-2009-05-29.jpg Took this on my Canon S2 IS Powershot the morning after a rain shower. …continue reading

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from our galleries

our sole bunch hard neck and soft neck garlic ready for planting coming this week, first asparagus harvest of the season containers on back patio bucket 2 - trace a circle around the top of yogurt cup on bottom of the bucket irrigation system manifold early tomatoes In the greenhouse, buckets of water act as a heat sink.