Weed Or What

I don't know what this is, but its got a week before I whack it out.

Those bottom leaves are nearly two feet in length and it stayed neat and tidy for two years - close to the ground.  This year it is growing up and out. It's about 3 feet by 3 feet in a small bed across my back patio.  It keeps putting out these buds and I wait each day for blooms, but I think it's just unfurling more leaves.  

Whatever, it is getting a severe pruning next week if nothing of the floral variety appears.

Quakes, Tornadoes and Fish Kills, Oh My

All that, and more.  My beautiful summer garden is on the wane and I check each day to see what is still faring well.

The echinacea is fodder for the birds now.  The orioles certainly do like those pin sharp seeds and that is all they are getting as I had to stop feeding the birds due to the rats.

Love black-eyed Susans.  They return each year like gangbusters.

Though the phlox are losing many petals, they still smell wonderful and the butterflies love them.

These flowers grow all over.  I haven't a clue what they are.  The first year I pulled them all up and saw one I had missed had snapdragon-like flowers climbing up the stalk.  They also come in many different colors, so I left them all this year.

So, summer is hurrying by.  It has been a strange one.  Oh, by the way, in the past week, there have been 1500 earthquakes (fracking.)  A fairly strong tornado passed within blocks of my first child's house and did quite a lot of damage.  Buildings destroyed and trees down and people hurt at 1:30am. Sirens didn't even go off.  Daughter's house was spared though only five blocks away. The tornado stayed on the ground for seven miles. It is only the third tornado in August since 1950 in Tulsa.  Seems it was caused by unseasonably cooler temps.  I'm not complaining about the cooler temps as August here is usually miserably hot, in triple digits.  Global warming? Climate change?

Oh yes, and the fish kill on the lake.  I saw a dead fish off my dock.  Then another and another.  Over about two days, every fish in our lake was floating.  Small fry and huge fish as long as my arm.  Everywhere.  Hundreds.  The smell was horrid. The wildlife department came out and tested.  Seems the perfect storm of events occurred.  Low oxygen levels, number of waterfowl and high temperatures and whatever else, caused it.  I doubt there are any left.  At least the turtles and waterfowl weren't affected.  It was terrible.

Dew Drop In

I got nothing.  Except these.  I've told you about my slight aversion to large, tropical flowers.  I don't know why.  The hibiscus are coming out next year.  They simply take up all the room in the little garden outside of my bedroom.  They do not delight me.  I am thinking of replacing them with miniature roses.  

This plant is growing on me.  Each flower is striking in its color scheme.  I think I'll let it stay.

We are in the hot and dry part of summer.  Haven't had rain for a long time.  With it too hot to enjoy being outside during the day, I am surprised to see dew in the mornings.  The dew point makes it hotter during the day.

Still fighting the rats.  They will not touch the poison in the locked feeders.  I have just about given up.  One has crawled up into my raised planter and tunneled around.  Just about killed all of my vegetables.  It has even been eating my teeny tomatoes.  I set a trap in it, but it didn't take the bait.

But the days march on.  Summer is flying by and the grands are not happy about having four more weeks before school starts.  Son moved back last week and is nearby.  We found out they are having a little boy near Christmas.  I think they are shocked as they were sure it was another little girl. Nevertheless, they will be thrilled when he gets here.

Hope your summer is going swimmingly.

Big Small

It is lily time at the city house.  I don't know what these are, but they are HUGE.  At least 9 inches across.  So pretty.  Flowers are amazing.

Perfect for this small porcelain wise man.  Though I don't think you can see it, there were droplets of honeydew inside the flower.  I tasted it.  Sweet. Wonder what lily ice cream would taste like.

This tiny colander is full of pearl sized tomatoes.  Those cookie cutters are the child-sized ones.  I waited for two years to find these teensy tomato seeds.  A burst of flavor.

When I was a child, I would have died with all the miniature things they have today.  Smalls just enchant me.  Happy days...

Weed Or Not

I listened to many of you and abstained from pulling up plants I did not know about.  It is hard when they are small and not identifiable. This beauty is a moon flower and has a lovely scent, but even better, it blooms throughout the summer and early fall.  Nearly the size of a plate, the large plant is covered in these flowers that only open at night.  I took this shot on a cloudy, early morn.  It is also called Angel's Trumpet.

I don't know what this shrub is, but there are several in the gardens and it is very pretty.

This little garden is off the patio next  to my bedroom on the upper level of the back yard.  There is about an 8 foot drop down to the lower level of yard and gardens that slopes down to the lake.  I have to be careful not to roll down the slope.

Remember those teeny goslings a couple of months ago?

What big babies they have become.  Nearly as large as their parents though they still have downy patches. Eat like little goats.  Quite friendly and unafraid, though I'd prefer they stay in the lake and not on my lawn.

These small doves come to eat seed on my windowsills and are very friendly.  All the wildlife seem to be used to humans, unlike their country counterparts. Many kinds of birds.

And here are my new pretties.  The garden center said they were chimes.  What?  Glass balls?  I only bought one, but had to go back the next day for two more.  Rule of threes?  Odd numbers more pleasing or the symmetry?  Can't remember.

Off the subject, but since I always tell you I never learn, well, I passed on this large zeppelin though it pained me to do so.  It is only the second one I have ever seen and I have always wanted one.  They would only come down 10% and I choked at the price.  So, maybe I shouldn't pat myself on the back.  I would have bought it for the right price.  Sigh.

My Day of Days

I reached a new decade back in December.  One that didn't really bother me all that much as I am not very vain.  What are you gonna do?  Nevertheless, it was the best birthday ever.  I went to lunch with my daughters and friends, got the nicest gifts and had the best time.  And, nobody said a word about my surprise birthday party that night at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, sneaky little devils.  They were all there having fun, grinning like Cheshire cats and no one had even let it slip.  I've never had a surprise party before.  It was wonderful.  All my children, husband, sister and her significant other, friends and their children were there.  I love them all.  My cake was a beautiful cake/mousse concoction covered in cherry blossoms ( this because my daughter knew how much I was moved by the movie) and I got a copy of the movie too.  My daughter had even sent out printed invitations with cherry blossoms inscribed and on the back a picture of me in the field and a line from the poem THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost that I quote from time to time.  My friends and family are so thoughtful, so wonderful.  I adore them. It was the best day and night.  "someday I shall be telling this tale ages and ages hence, two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."  I, I took the one less traveled by and now I'm lost on the farm.

IRIS

I've photographed some of my iris, which are stunning, but fade much too fast. The second one is strongly scented. Iris comes from the Greek word for rainbow and is grown on many continents mainly in northern temperate zones. There are about 300 species of iris. The fleur-de-lis is a stylized iris. Orris root comes from irides and its essential oils are used in perfumes and medicines. Bombay gin contains orris root and flavoring from species of bearded iris. Like an old friend, the plants come back year after year and spread through rhizomes and though mine are on the wane, I'll see them again next year. The still life painting of lemons and iris came from a flea market. I heard this story once about seeing stands of iris in fields and roadsides. Supposedly, they mark where old homesteads once stood. Sure enough, I found rock foundations of two old homesteads in the mountains, and where the front of the house would have been, were beds of iris.

Spring Whispered In Her Ear

"Spring whispered in her ear," is a partial lyric from an old Laura Nyro song titled Upstairs By A Chinese Lamp. It is a song from one of her earlier albums. Laura was a genius and as well, a singer/songwriter/musician. Well, today spring did whisper in my ear. It's Here! Hurrah!

These little jonquils are the naturalizing kind that spread their little bulbettes around and come back every year more plentiful. I picked up one lying on the tiny grave of an indian child in an old indian cemetery. I brought the bulb home and stuck it in a flower bed and it has spread throughout the area. You can see whole fields of them around here and the little beauties are the first harbingers of spring. I think they are jonquils as the dictionary said the daffodils are bigger. Nevertheless, both are from the narcissus family.

I cracked open an egg and placed them in it. I have also used cracked egg halves to start seedlings in the original egg carton. Just put in some peat moss and seeds, keep them watered in a sunny window and plant outside later. I crunch the eggshells up and sprinkle them around the seedling. It is a very cute and green way to garden in the SPRING!