Sumac & guillardia

Mountain ash--flowers?

Not sure if they are considered flowers, but they're pretty cool looking.

And pretty, too.

[10/2012: just discovered this is actually a staghorn sumac. The red parts are seeds]

 

Guillardia on east side. July 23

Guillardia again, not quite a week later. July 27

Aren't these green fuzzballs great?

I didn't realize that's what the blossoms became after they faded.

I need to find a better place for these where they can be properly appreciated.

Extending the retaining wall, phase 2

July 23

to the fence

 July 27

Tall and filled in with gravel, thanks to Dad H./cousins

July 27



Front flowerbed in bloom

I just love it. Still.

I haven't gotten a picture to really do it justice yet, but I keep trying.

Asiatic daylilly--it bloomed after all!

This picture was from July 1.

 daisies, phlox

blue lobelia, phlox, petunias 

more lobelia, daisies and phlox

phlox again

I've been impressed with how much the phlox has grown and spread out already.

The blooms are long lasting and quite lovely.

You can just see the daylily in the background.

First tomato

From the 'Early Girl' vine.
A full month earlier than our first last year.

It was delicious.



Goodbye big bush

We yanked this bush out by the front steps.

Even though it was healthy.

Ever since I saw it from across the street and realized how overbalanced it looked, I have thought about pulling it.

I'm glad we did. 

It has really opened up the front of the house to some new possibilities. 

Before:

After:

Now to work on putting some shrubs in on top of the wall.

Vegetable Garden

corn, nasturtiums, and sunflowers 

The corn that's leaning over was the only one to grow from the first planting

We had a night of hard wind that made it lean.  

Beans are filling in.

Purple beans starting to flower, green beans still growing.

Nasturtiums in front almost all came up!

peas almost done 

potatoes and carrots getting bushy

onions starting to flower

 one ripe tomato

whole garden

Shade garden update

Lovely, airy little flowers on the heuchera  

I didn't realize it was a flowering plant until now. I guess with the other one up on the slope higher I just didn't notice the flowers last year.

Just a glimpse of viola purple under the apple tree.

New additions from the neighbor:



hellebore

It's planted on the right-hand side, just above the shade-bed proper.

Big healthy fern--it's the one on the left.

So far it's done the best of all the ferns--maybe because it was so well established in her yard before transplanting it over.

Not sure the cinnamon fern is going to make it.

More Peas and Raspberries

This harvest was from July 9 

July 15

The kids kept the peas and raspberries pretty well picked down and sure enjoyed going out and picking their own snacks each day.  I love that about having a garden.

It's so fun to pick and eat that they don't realize they're getting healthy veggies and fruits in their diet.  Yay!

So these pictures represent the most we got actually in the house at any given time.

Most of the time it was mere handfuls, and most of those were eaten before they made it to the house.

Guess we'll just have to plant a few more!

Tackling the back flowerbed

Before

--weed patch, interspersed with irises--

Have I mentioned before how intimidated I have been by this side of the flowerbed?

So jam-packed full of weeds that I hardly knew what to do with it.

Plus the irises that had probably never been divided. {sigh}

Well, I finally I got up the gumption to tackle it.

I decided there was nothing I could do but tear everything out and start over.

I was glad I did. The crab grass roots were all intertwined under the irises. There's no way I could have kept it weeded with that being the case. I'm putting all of the irises up on the slope, in the back corner by the alliums.

After adding several bags of topsoil and compost, I tranplanted the rose bushes from out front to that spot. I don't think they're going to make it, though. We weren't able to get very much of their roots when we pulled them out, because the roots went straight down into the clay and broke off. They look pretty dead right now.

I will give them another few weeks and if they don't perk up I'll probably pull them out and put something else in to get it settled before winter.

I'll add the current "after" pictures soon.

On the plus side, the mockorange shrub has grown almost a foot this summer.

I have been watering it diligently and it has really been shooting up.

Blurry goldfinches

They came about dusk and didn't stay long.

The female is on the upper right side of the picture.

I didn't click fast enough!

Kind Neighbor

Our next door neighbor is selling their house. She knows all about plants and planting. Guess what she's giving me?!

Already, several sedum starts (hooray), and some lavender starts. Also, bachelor button starts, with pretty purple blooms and those fancy-looking buds. And a purple coneflower from one of her planters (I think it will go in the front flowerbed, next to the one on the far right that's all alone currently), and a fern if I want it. And some mint and marjoram. Oh yeah, and a hellebore. Possibly some campanula (bellflower) and wild geranium (?) I think.  I am loving it! She is so gracious about it, too. She compliments my flowerbed, and says I can just come dig up what I want of these things she has shown me.

And she knows the names of lots of the weeds/plants I've been trying to identify lately.

Awesome!

Shade Bed Tour & Violas

These dicentra's are supposed to die back by now, I thought, but they both seem to be putting out new growth. I don't mind!

I really love how the new growth is lighter green, with smaller leaves. It just adds dimension to the plant.

These hostas must like their new home--they're flowering already.

Quite lovely. 

 So I didn't kill off the brunnera (so glad!)

We've got a few new little leaves coming up.

I'll have to go back and clip off the big leaves that are too far gone to save, now that I'm sure it's surviving okay.

And what can I say more about VIOLAS?

Other than, I think they're fantastic, and they are some of my favorite flowers.

Oh, and they keep showing up in the most unexpected places.

 Like, in the lawn.

Not moving them!

Here's another one growing amongst the grass.

I've spotted at least 3 or 4.  

And here's one way over on the slope, by the woodland hyacinth.

They can populate whatever ground they want to. I don't mind a bit!

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Not a very clear picture, but at least I clicked it before he flew away.

I thought he looked different than the usual sparrows who have discovered the bird feeder.

Found him in my bird book tonight.

Gotcha!

Garden update

Summer has finally come to the Palouse!

It has been in the 90's the past couple days.

So I turned the water on the garden for 2 hours today.

(Also watered raspberries, the shade bed, and the bed out front. oh, and pots.)

Bottom terrace

Cucumbers starting to put on some leaves.

Tomatoes growing taller. There are already green tomatoes on two of the plants.

I think they are both determinate, so I'm hoping the 3 or so on the plant isn't going to be the whole harvest!

Just have to say: I LOVE the marigolds interspersed between the tomatoes. I'll have to do that again next year. Those bright spots of color just make me happy.

Herbs are doing fine.

Zucchini  STILL not up (second planting with new seed not helping, I guess?) 

 Middle terrace: spring veggies

Peas are pulling my stakes down, but other than that are doing great!

We have picked several fistfuls so far.

J and B have enjoyed picking them off and eating them while they play outside.

Carrots, potatoes, and onions looking full and bushy.

I've been keeping it weeded, but it hasn't been a chore.

The thistles are the most persistent.

I may need to mound up a bit more dirt for the potatoes soon, and I probably need to go through and thin the carrots one more time.

Top terrace

Nasturtiums (in front) and sunflowers (back) starting to leaf out.

I think nearly all of my corn is up now that I replanted!

Beans are also going strong!

So the tall beans are the Royal Burgundy that have been in all along.

The ones on the far right are the green bush beans I replanted.

They have almost all come up now, too. I guess it helps when the soil is warm. ;)

Wildflower bouquet

When they're still out front they can be weeds.

When I clip them to put in a bouquet, now they're wildflowers. :)

Except the lupines, I guess. I don't consider them weeds.

A few daisies and lupines left, and some of the clover from out front.

I quite like the effect, actually. 

Sort of wild and sprawling, but pretty too.

I had tons of each this year--not sure why I didn't think to clip some sooner and try my hand at bouquets. 

Pretty Weeds

I've been thinking all along this was clover.

Nope, just found out it is vetch. Terrible name for such a pretty plant.

Officially a weed, but a pretty one.

All those shades of pink and purple on the same plant. 

I think this breed of tiny daisy deserves another mention.

I'm hoping to get it transplanted to the slope still.
[I belive this one may be dog fennel. Still investigating.]

Don't know what these purple flowers are, but they are pretty too.

Many of the hillsides in town are covered with them.
[And what do you know? This is another species of vetch. I guess now that I think about it, the leaves are the same as the clover-like vetch up top.]