PJ's Birthday

I missed PJ's birthday! It was the 4th, and Jeff threw a surprise party for her. Mama gave her a little gnome for her garden. He's a cutie. I absolutely love the sweet peas! and in September! I never knew that was possible, but I want to try that for next year. The last shot is Mack, dressed up for the party. I love you, Sis!

Silver Tidal Wave

I posted pictures of these a month or so ago, but they are just so beautiful now, and they don't show any signs of stopping. The rose is lost to blackspot. Actually it hasn't performed well for the past couple of years, so we will probably replace it next year. I did baby the petunias through July with water and miracle-grow, but they haven't had any rain, water, or food for over a month.

Dahlia

This was taken in the early morning, so the flash washed it out a little. I had decided that I didn't like dahlias--too much trouble, the bugs eat them, they need water, they start turning brown before they open fully, the blooms aren't as big as the catalogs boast, they have to be lifted in the fall and stored over the winter. Not worth it! But, with a couple of changes, I got this huge bloom. I read on the dahlia forum that the side buds need to be pinched to make a bigger bloom. That made sense, so I pinched. And now it's cooler, which it really seems to like. So maybe I'll dig these tubers up, lug them down to the basement and replant next spring. Maybe.
I just realized that I haven't posted since Tuesday. The stories about Katrina's survivors keep pulling me back to the tv. I have much to be thankful for.

PJ's Boys

This picture of Jordan is from last year at JD and Rachel's wedding. It still makes me smile. I don't have any recent pictures of Jordan, but I'd love to have one of him at he pond shop where he works. The next shot below is Jacob, our future guitar-builder. And then there's Mack, canine gardener.

More from PJ's

Looks like she's watering her flowers. I wonder if she's as tired of watering as I am. . .

Rocks

More shots from Todd and Lori's garden in Lexington--a map of Kentucky carved by nature, and a balancing act.

The Martin Pond

These are views of Todd and Lori's pond. It's beautiful!

Judson and Rachel with Isaac

Wednesday Evening

This is one of the containers that I'm tempted to throw on the compost pile. It's a little tired-looking these days. It could use some food and a spider rebuilds his web in it every night. (If that spider had a blog, he would be saying that something comes along every morning and tears down his web!) That's Mark in the background, hoeing weeds in the garden.

New Zealand Delphiniums

Last winter I ordered delphinium seeds from Dowdeswell's in New Zealand. I didn't think they would bloom this year, but here they are. Right now they are planted in Judson's old wagon.

Home Again (for now)

Isaac just got back from his westward travels. He saw desert, mountains, geysers, waterfalls, and beautiful sunsets. He brought back hundreds of pictures. Makes me want to go too.

Monday's Zinnias and Tomatoes

It rained a little bit more today. The temps are down, which is a good thing because our air conditioner decided to retire. We turned it off yesterday because it was so cool, now it won't come back on. The white iris is Immortality, a rebloomer that Kathy sent to me several years ago. This is a shot of three blooms which opened all together.

Now that's a Rain!

Yes, it's finally raining! We've had short, heavy rains for the past couple of days. The thunderstorm last night kept us from going to the fair. I hope to go sometime over the next week and take lots of pictures of the flowers there. Today it began raining about 9:30, and it's rained all day long. Mark and I went out early and cleaned up a bunch of spent iris and daylily foliage. It looked a little better. Everything will look better after today's water. This is a picture of an oriental lily that I just found underneath a monstrous white butterfly bush.

Pat Austin

Peachy orange rose, especially pretty with black and blue salvia.

Peggy's Garden

It's a good thing mama sent me some pictures from her yard. I didn't have a thing to post today. This first shot is malabar spinach. Next year I'll try it on my sun-democrat box. With some king of super-duper rabbit protection. Maybe I'll grow it up through a rabbit trap. (That sounds mean doesn't it?) I don't know what kind of sunflower this is. It doesn't look very tall, but it's a huge flower. And the folige looks great. Beautiful. Thanks, mama!

Coleus Update

This is Sedona with some victoria blue salvia. It's taken over the washtub, but I don't mind. It's really pretty. This year's favorite is the Religious Radish below. It looks like three different coleus, but it's all one plant. I've never tried to winter-over, but I may try to this year. My all-time favorite coleus is Alabama Sunset, and there wasn't one to be found in Springfield this year. I looked everywhere!

Washington Park

We went to Washington Park today for a daylily sale. I didn't buy anything! They didn't have an Indian Giver, and there were so many, many daylilies that I got all confused. I kept thinking about the daylilies at home that are in the "temporary" bed and need moving to the border. All that digging to do made me think twice about buying more. Anyway, Kelly went with us and she had a good time. It was beautiful there. Their russian sage puts mine to shame, and their sweet potato vines with the japanese blood grass was wonderful. More camera problems--the battery pack died. I should take the camera bag with instruction booklet, an extra memory card, and batteries. Except that's probably too much trouble. I didn't even want to carry my purse with me today. Too much baggage when there's such beautiful flowers to explore.

Chocolate Joe Pye and Baptisia

I finally got a shot of the chocolate joe pye that isn't washed out. It's so pretty. Next year it gets moved into the border along with the lime green hyssop mama gave me. Right now it's in the vegetable garden with zinnias, cleome, and bright lights. (Ignore the fence if you can. Without it, the rabbits would have had zinnias and I would have had none.) Below is a picture of the baptisia. I started it from seed a few years ago, and now it is huge.

Tree Form

This is a peegee hydrangea that I got from Gail's last year. It looks really fresh and pretty right now. Some of the other white flowers are a little ratty-looking these days.

I'll Stick to "Social Worker-ing"

It's a good thing I don't have to make a living at photographing butterflies. They move too fast and I don't have enough patience.