In a short........my garden (tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, melons, and potatoes) is growing like crazy. We've had almost perfect weather here for the past 4 weeks. Warm, sunny, with shots of rain mixed in. My big expectation is waiting for the muskmelons and watermelons to set fruit. Currently lots of female flowers, but no fruit.

We sure would love to have some rain here! It hasn't rained much since November. We have what I call The Procrastinaor's Garden. We can get away with that here. It goes against the grain of the local Ag. center's advice, but it has worked well for us! A few years ago we planted corn really late and didn't have any corn borers. Our corn is now knee high. Everyone else's is tasseling. We just had our first tomato. Others had their first in late March. You get the drift.

here are my visitiors {{gwi:35614}}
{{gwi:35615}}

Wonderful visitors, portents of Summer!

Little hummingbird lieutenants are buzzing around here.

Josh

An allium with a stained glass garden stake in the background
{{gwi:35616}}

Same plant - different bloom head
{{gwi:35617}}

A Peruvian lily coming on
{{gwi:35618}}

"The Thinker" under a young bloodgood
{{gwi:35619}}

Happy 4th of July!!
{{gwi:35620}}

Al

Oh, everyone!

Such beautiful pictures and what a great idea for a thread Jojo!

Look at those butterflies and look at that plant giving you a natural firework display Al. Just fantastic!
I also took a peek at your other magnificent pics.
Look at those beautiful pots too and those cute frogs...I think by now we know what your passion is for. Great to see you almost in full swing here Al. You were missed.

Jojo: Your son is getting very good at growing plants there and in the hot weather. Bravo. I just love that yellow color and I think the butterfly does too!

Hi Josh! I could only wish I had humming birds! You must love watching them. Did you put things out to deliberately to attract them? Nice.

Kandhi: Beautiful bird and picture.

Here is a couple of visitors my way this am. The frog seems to of befriended me. He lets me take close ups and even climbs on my hand when of course I don't happen to have the camera. I have no idea what will happen come the fall/winter:-(
There are also two peas in a pod..lol

{{gwi:35622}}

{{gwi:35624}}

Hello everyone!
Happy bees, happy frog! Good shot, Mike ;-)

I don't have any visitors, but couldn't resist splashing some color on this Thread.....

{{gwi:35626}}


{{gwi:35628}}


{{gwi:35629}}



Josh

One of my wife's little friends
{{gwi:35630}}

Some pictures from the yard (nothing but my trees are in containers):
{{gwi:35631}}
{{gwi:35632}}
{{gwi:35633}}
{{gwi:35634}}
{{gwi:35635}}
{{gwi:35636}}

Hope you enjoy,
Blake

Isn't it amazing how CUTE and innocent Raccoons can look, and yet how destructive they can be?

Those are some very nice flowers there Blake!

Thank you

Mike

Hi Mike,
Thanks,

The racoon has 4 kits she brings into the back yard and my wife feeds them bread. I didn't realize how much most people don't like them or how destructive they can be until I saw a program on CBC the other night. The program showed the destruction of some of Japan's shrines by imported racoons. Not a good thing.

Our flowers are starting to look kind of sad now. I've been dead heading the Dianthus to extend the flowering time. Unfortunately, because of the timing of the dead heading, the new blooms are coming in spotty, so there are large empty spots waiting for the new buds to bloom.

I'm learning though and maybe next year's flowers will be filled with blooms.

Blake

Blake I hear what you are saying!

My petunias and geraniums always look like crud once the cool rain moves in for days. All the flowers rot off and I have to wait for the next round of hot weather to come before they looks good again. Talk about dead heading..lol
T could of posted another type visitor here, the dreaded SLUGS, but I thought I would spare everyone.

Josh: Now I can comment on your most beautiful pics buddy! I am home and can see them:-)
Your not kidding about color. I love them flowers man. Looks like you just might have some humming bird attractors! I really like that purple one.
Thanks Josh.
Yes Josh, especially happy frog. I could of sworn he was sunbathing on a rock today with his hands behind his head..lol

{{gwi:35637}}

{{gwi:35638}}

Wow, the orange and yellow one above is beautiful.

Blake

Hi Everyone!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing! I've enjoyed reading this and seeing all the pictures!

Edcolor> That's great your garden is doing so well! We have problems from time to time with all female flowers for awhile too. For the life of me I can't remember why that happens, but if I find the info I'll let you know. :-)

It's HOTcolor> here and the gardens are a little tired right now. I have a few flowers and such coming up but not much right now.

zackeycolor> I'm all to familiar with no rain. We just had our first monsoon storm and it broke a record of 82 days no rain.
I hope you start getting yours soon.
I plant alot late in the season too. But it's such a long one we can get away with it. :-)

kandhicolor> I love the bird! We have a few similar to that here too. My yard is full of little finches. I did catch one of the little stinkers eating a tomato the other day though. lol...

Beautiful picture of the butterfly! How many did it take? lol.. I think I must have taken 50 to get the 2 decent pics. Your yard has a lot of beautiful colors!

Alcolor> Everything looks great! I love the brown/tan speckled pot! It's good to see your yard coming together!

Mikecolor> I showed your kind words to Jace. He says thanks. :-) We love the sunflowers! Big happy cheery blooms!
Beautiful pictures! I know first hand Bee's are hard to get pictures of! They just don't sit still enough for the macro setting. lol.. I love them! 2 'bee's' in a pod. ;-)

And the frog! What a beautiful picture with all the plants around him! I want a pond!!! I'm whining..lol...

I had a toad a few years back that would acknowledge my voice and let me scratch his chin, without catching him! It's funny to think of something like them trusting people but I've seen that they can.

Joshcolor> Your always welcome to splash some color! :-)
And some great color you did! That rose is beautiful!! Wow!
And the other flowers almost seem 3D! Great job with the macro!
Josh, you need to sit out there all day and get a picture of the hummers. lol...
Thanks buddy!

kandhicolor> What is the variegated one with the red flowers? That is beautiful!
And the colors in the picture below are amazing! thanks for showing those!

Blakecolor> I love the Raccoon! And it has kits! How sweet! We don't have them around our homes, but do up in the mountains. I've never seen any in the wild myself.
The plants/flowers are beautiful!
What is the pink one just below the Raccoon? I've never seen anything like it! I'd love to try and find one!
Partial to the lavender ones too . :-)

I hope you all have a great day!

JoJocolor>

Hi Jojo,

Unfortunately I don't know they name of the pink one. I believe it to be an Azeala or Rhododendron. It was here when we moved in, but neither my wife or I have ever seen it bloom in the ten years we've been here. I'm trying to root some cuttings I took from it, but as it's my first attempt at rooting cuttings, I have no idea if I'll be successful.

Blake

Jojo, the variegated one is the hibiscus and the yellow/red combination plants are asiatic lilies with red crocosmia.

The crocosmia is awesome...!
I have some planted in my garden, but it isn't blooming yet. It's always later for me.

Hey, JoJo!

Josh