Still in the garden

The raised bed flower garden behind the house, back in May.


















Same raised bed flower garden behind the house, in the last week. Columbines at far right, poppies to their left, tall things in the center are monkshood. I'm happiest when the cows and calves stay on their side of the barbed wire fence (in the background, at right).
















Same raised bed, last week, but from the other end.


















Same raised bed, other side. Large rounded clump at far right is a type of daisy. I hacked back the catmint at the front along the corner, so it wouldn't go to seed and stop blooming.


















Closer view of the trellis in the raised bed. Taller blooms at right are cornflowers, and in the middle escaped dill. Big leaves bottom right are hollyhocks. The rest is clematis, sweet pea, and some morning glory, not yet blooming.


















The raised bed vegetable garden. From front to back, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, green beans, scarlet runner beans, scraggly carrots, corn, and more volunteer poppies.

















Under the deck in front of the house. The page wire and morning glories were my idea to cover up the hole in the wooden trellis, made by Evel Knievel five-year-old Davy last year who lost control and crashed his bike. Morning glories, which open around 5 am and close up by 2 pm, blue lobelia, purple calibrachoa (the flowers that look like small petunias). Can't remember the name of the tall pink flowers at center, will look at the tag in the pot.

In the garden and around the farm

The kids' frog farm, with tadpoles and baby frogs found in the ditch by the house. Tom says he's never seen as many frogs as we have this year because of all the rains. Odd to think as children that I did more tadpole hunting, albeit at the Bronx and Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, than my country husband.







A closer view of one of the older frogs. Yes, one of the kids thought that the frog needed some lettuce from the garden.









The neighbors' derelict barn, amidst the (genetically modified) canola...

More from the garden

Eggs from the duck nest in the backyard, not 10 feet from the house. We watched over the duck and her nest for almost a month, mostly from a distance and not too often, and despite the nearby marauding magpies, the duck managed to hatch out all 10 eggs. We checked on the nest on the second to last day to find it full of nine ducklings, with one to go. The next morning, mama and her babies were gone, and a tenth cracked eggshell was left in the nest. Success!


















One of the planters in front of the house, last month. Violas and pansies, and a pink double impatiens that looks like small roses. The big leaves belong to the nolana (see next picture, below), which hadn't started flowering when I took this picture. The nolana stems and flowers took off right after; the stems are thick and almost vining, and the bright blue flowers with white centers resemble morning glories, but stay open all day.






















The nolana, at far left, blooming in the planter. The blue lobelia at right I stuck in a few weeks ago, when it threatened to take over another planter.


















The planter the other day. Colors a bit washed out though in this picture...

Mary Mary quite contrary

And Becky, too. Recent snaps from the garden. I'll post more as Blogger and dial-up will let me.


















Columbines























More columbines. They've been blooming for almost a month, show no signs of giving up any time soon, and their shapes and colors make me happy.























This is cheating a bit. This is the Dropmore honeysuckle, above, when it was blooming last month. Gorgeous and pink for the brief while it lasted.

Trip snaps

Palm tree (friend's garden)


Roots of a West Indian almond tree (friend's garden)


Another palm tree (friend's garden)


Strelitzia (Bird-of-Paradise) in my parents' garden