Surprise Visitors

When one plants a garden, you can always expect a few surprises and that's exactly how I felt when I spotted a few of these guys chowing down on my dill plants:



That's an Eastern black swallowtail caterpillar dining in a herb patch at the edge of our veggie garden. They sure are hungry little critters! Anyway, they have sinced moved on, possibly "cocooning" somewhere close by. The adult butterfly looks like this:



It's a bit of a challenge to get these guys to pose for a picture.

Note to myself: next year plant lots of dill!

Flowers In Love?

Well, how about this? Seems like the temps aren't the only thing that's heating up around here! Love appears to be in full bloom in my flower garden:



I wonder if any cross-pollination has taken place? They are both types of coneflowers. Have to remember to collect some seeds to plant next year. Maybe something interesting will result from this flowery fling!

Have to admit, they do make a cute couple!

A Summer Afternoon On The Porch

One of my favorite places to spend a summer afternoon is on our front porch. I like to read there or just watch whatever comes to visit the garden that day. Here's a photo of some of the flowers on one side of the porch:



I was attempting to take some pictures of butterflies, but it was pretty windy outside and most of the photos were blurry. However, Mr. Bee was kind enough to pose for a shot atop this purple coneflower:



And this black-eyed Susan:



Apparently Mr. Bee was on some kind of top-secret mission, for he chased me after I snapped his photo!

Who can this be, hiding behind the flowers?



I also recommend that if you are trying to take pictures of butterflies, for best results leave your chubby kitty cat with the tiny head indoors.



That's Jeter, enjoying the show at the butterfly bush.
I took this picture while lying down on my stomach to get the best angle to show off my cat's unique physique. And wouldn't you know it, at the same time my postman was coming up the front steps. He did look at me rather strangely as he handed me the mail.

Thank you for looking at my pictures. Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.

Sgt. Pepper's Magical Mystery Mushrooms

Hey, I don't remember planting these! Look what's growing in the same containers with my peppers:



And this mysterious fungi is just downright scary:



And here's a more psychedelic photo of the "mystery mushrooms":



I do like peppers and mushrooms on my pizza, but I don't think it's a good idea to eat these.

Funny thing, about two summers ago in this very same spot, I had planted a Beatle garden (I LOVE the Beatles). It featured a mini "Strawberry Fields", a "Pepperland", an "Imagine" stepping stone, and a walrus. One day I noticed that a certain illegal drug was also growing in my little garden. I have no idea how it ended up there, but I thought it was a fitting tribute to the Fab Four so I "Let It Be". It was a bit of a novelty for us that summer, until my hubby pulled it out. I guess that was the smart thing to do, but I wish I had taken a picture of it.
So now it appears the mystery gardener is at it again. I am thankful this mischievous little sprite has kicked his naughty habit. Or perhaps he has a secret garden yet to be discovered.

Veggie Tales

I had the most bizarre looking cucumbers growing in my garden-they were oddly shaped, almost kind of round. Well, when I went to harvest my little mutants for their photo session they were gone. So either aliens spotted them from outer space and brought them back home or Carlos ate them. (If he starts growing an extra eye, then I'll know for sure.)
My veggies are not doing as well as my flowers this year and many of my fellow "farmers" are having similar issues with their gardens. We did get some rain today so maybe things will improve. I do have lots of green tomatoes-they always grow like crazy here. Here are a few photos:

Some sweet banana peppers:



Better boy tomatoes (c'mon you guys-turn red already!)



And Mama Mia-that is one big zucchini!




As I was writing this post, I found out there was a large steam pipe explosion in midtown Manhattan. It is NOT terrorist related, but there is a huge crater in the road (Lexington Ave) and a few people have been injured and thousands in the area have been evacuated because there is danger of asbestos and the buildings near the crater may be unstable. My niece works in the area, but I believe she made it home safely.

Just One More......

Couldn't resist posting another photo of the Swamp Rose Mallow with its new neighbor Monarda (bee balm). Tomorrow I may take some pictures of my veggies if it's not raining-I think they may be getting a little jealous!

More Flower Power

This Swamp Rose Mallow continues to amaze me. This is what greeted me when I pulled up in front of my house this afternoon:



I measured the flower-8 1/2 inches across. Can you see the pink edging on the petals? I just wish that the blooms would last longer than a day. They are so pretty-I may have to plant more of these.

Well, I need to get busy like this here bee-I have so much to do!



Thank you for looking at my flowers (again!)

Flower Power

Well, here I go with some more garden pictures. This first one shows rudbeckia (aka black-eyed susans), gayfeather (liatris), and purple coneflower (echinacea). The butterflies love to visit this spot.



Here are some daylilies:



Some close-ups of the black-eyed susans and purple coneflowers:





And this last one is a hardy hibiscus also known as a swamp rose mallow. I just planted this last weekend in honor of Ladybird Johnson who did much to preserve native American plants. The blooms only last a day, but they are large-this one is at least 6 inches in diameter.



These are all perennials and thrive where I live in NJ. They seemed to have enjoyed that heat wave we had here last week. And best of all, the butterflies are attracted to them, but they were a bit camera shy-better luck next time!
Thank you for visiting my garden.

Show and Tell

It's Show and Tell Friday! If you want to join the fun, visit Kelli's blog and leave a link to your post.
My Show and Tell for this Friday are some photos of the flowers now blooming in my garden.

In this first picture are petunias. yellow gerbera daisies. and some red salvia. These are in a large planter next to my home.
In the second picture, I have some red impatiens in a window box on my porch railing.
And in the last picture are the Tropicana roses in my backyard. They are planted in a little garden next to the patio. I'm still working on that space . I planted the roses last year and it's a relatively new garden.
My summer perennials are getting buds now, so you can be sure that they're going to be featured in a future show and tell. I also have a small veggie garden that is slowly making progress.
Thanks for looking at my flowers and thank you Kelli for hosting the Show and Tell Friday.

My Dirty Weekend

Well, here's what I've been up to the past few days: planting and more planting. Flowers, veggies and herbs. My yard is not very big, so I put some things like peppers and herbs in containers. I also planted tomatoes, green beans, Japanese eggplants, cucumbers, and zucchini squash.That's a dwarf apple tree in the planter on the right.




Here's Raven wondering how she's going to get past that fence surrounding the veggie garden:

Here's a little gardening tip I learned from my Dad: punch a hole in those little plastic markers that usually come with young plants and tie them to the tomato cages or stakes if you use them. So if you discover that you love (or hate) a particular variety, this will help to identify it easily.
This is a Rutgers tomato-their sports teams did well this year so I'm hoping their tomato will also have a good season as well!

Sorry these photos are kind of blurry-it's a little breezy here today.

So, why did I spend this long weekend getting dirty when I could have gone to the beach or a barbecue? Why it's a family tradition!
You see when I was a child, Memorial Day Weekend was when we would put our pool up. My father would carve out this huge circle which was the diameter of the pool in our backyard, and my brother, sisters, and I would spend the entire weekend "preparing the soil". We would dig up the whole area within that circle about 3 inches deep and sift every bit of it until there were no stones or grass or anything else left in it. Just good old dirt. We would have a pretty big hill of it by the time we were finished. My father would then spread this sifted dirt out into the circle. He would put a post in the ground at the exact center and using this as his guide, go around the circle with a large piece of wood until the entire area was level. Then we would put up the actual pool and fill it. If all had gone well, it would ready for our Memorial Day cookout.
On Labor Day Weekend, the pool would come down and we would repeat the entire process again the following year.

And as I recall, it was a fairly large pool.
I can still see my brother, shirtless and brown, covered with dirt, as he sifted the hours away. I think he rather enjoyed it.
A co-worker of mine thinks this story is hilarious and makes me repeat it to him every year for Memorial Day.
Fortunately, he was on vacation last week, but I'm sure I'll have to tell it to him tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just direct him to my blog.

Anyway, I have dirt up my nose and just about everywhere else on my person that isn't covered. I even taste dirt! It's time for me to hit the shower.

Gee, if I only had a pool.

My First roses of Summer

>Tropicana Rose


Some type of red miniature rose

Still waiting for the yellow "Golden Glow" rose to open. I love yellow roses! (Actually, that's a picture of one from last year underneath the "about me" section).

THE ROSE

It is only a tiny rosebud,

A flower of God's design,

But I cannot unfold the petals

With these clumsy hands of mine,

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I,

The flower God opens so sweetly,

In my hands would fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud

This flower of God's design,

Then how can I think I have the wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust in Him for His leading

Each moment of everyday

So I'll look to him for guidance

Each stop of the Pilgrim way.

For the Pathway that lies before me,

My heavenly father knows:

I'll trust him to unfold the moments,

Just as he unfolds the rose.

Charlie Gilchrist

Gardening in the Garden State

Hello, just trying to do my share these past few days to help my state of NJ live up to it's official nickname. And believe me, it needs all the help it can get. There's not a lot of open space left where I live. And where little patches of green survive, Canadian geese have staked their claim. They are cute, but they are sooo messy! Anyway, I'm just trying to pretty up my little corner of the planet. And it's also very good therapy after a long day at work. It helps sometimes to commune with nature to regain one's sanity.
I still have a lot of planting to do. I'll post pictures if it doesn't look too ugly. And I'll carefully crop them so it won't look like New Jersey. Although there may be a goose or two.

A Time To Plant

Yes, I know it's too early for tomatoes and cucumbers , but I love to garden and I just can't wait to get my hands dirty, so I picked up these little guys at Lowes this morning. I just love that store-I see so many things there that I want for my home, but I need to win the lottery first lol. Anyway, these are broccoli plants and they do well in cool weather, but since we're expecting a major nor'easter here tomorrow I'm going to wait a few days before I plant them. Maybe I should have also purchased some lumber to build an ark.

Butterfly Bush

If I could have only one plant in my garden it would be this one. It's also called a buddleia. This shrub is a butterfly MAGNET! I've also seen a few hummingbirds-a rare sight where I live. It blooms through most of the summer and into the early fall here in NJ. The blossoms look very much like lilacs and are very sweet smelling. It can grow quite large if not pruned regularly. It's also best to remove the spent blossoms to keep it blooming longer. It likes full sun and is very hardy and besides the occasional pruning, it requires little care. One of my favorite things to do on a lazy summer day is to sit on my front porch with a good book and a cool drink and and see what comes to visit my garden. I never tire of watching all these beautiful, wonderful creatures the Lord created-so much better than tv!

Is It Spring Yet?

These cute little crocuses growing outside my home say it is. And so does the calendar. But the weather here in New Jersey-well that's another story. Yes, we have been blessed with some nice weather here recently, but now there may be possible snowshowers at the end of the week! Well, I really shouldn't complain-we did have a pretty mild winter here. Anyone for an Easter egg hunt in the snow?