Thank you for the kind words about my precious babies. :D Mendocino_rose - yes, I definitely enjoy the digital photo camera, I always liked to take pictures and it is so nice to copy everything straight to the PC. No more film developing, scanning, etc. Ingrid, if I see some plant and say "oooh interesting", my DH already always replies "oh noes". I actually dragged a few peonies and other plants all the way from my parents garden, because I was attached to them - good thing we do not have a car that is capable of making a long distance trips, for I would have been tempted to take along shrubs of 5+ feet high. :D I really need to make some notes what I plant, especially bulbs - I have SOMETHING growing near my kitchen window, that I vaguely remember planting, but I have no idea what that is and where I might have gotten it. o.O It does not seem to be small. o.O Cats certainly make things more cozy, although our Siamese developed a habit to hunt neighboring cats, so we have to keep an eye on her. They both are old ladies by now, 12 and 11, but Ksenija still behaves as if she was a young cat. Now she has her paws full trying to train our toddler to serve her properly. Labrea and holley - I love that clematis, is so stunning and can get massive if left to grow as it wants. I had it pruned severely last year, it is all one year growth what you can see blooming. I don't think that previous owner gave her any care - it is as bullet proof as one can get it. We have another late summer one of the same age or even older - I have high hopes for that one too this year, it is so lovely to have mature plants in the garden! Moss roses are so amusing, I enjoy watching them grow as much as I will enjoy their flowers later on. I purposely planted one near our hedge, so passing by people can see it and wonder what kind of plant that is. :D

We have been having tomotoes right along since 4th of July along with all the other summer veggies. Our corn was short lived however - not a very good crop but what we had was really good. My hubby has been experimenting with various salsa recipes - he has canned up about 12 pints so far with varying degrees of hotness. Our pepper crop is fantastic. Yesterday I was able to freeze up 7 huge stuffed peppers - one pepper will serve both of us. All the hot peppers are producing on a regular basis. We have done up 30 or more pints of dill and sweet pickles. I love this time of year..... Lynne

Gwynne, I hate those darn Japanese beetles too. They were eating my zinnias last year, so I thought I'd be prepared this year and bought a trap a couple months ago before they even showed up here. I put it up and it immediately started catching them. I thought that would be the end of it and I wouldn't have any more problems. So I went out one day and there they were hanging all over my zinnias! Is it maybe not a good idea to put the trap up? Someone else told me that it attracts them from miles around, so maybe I've created more of a problem than I would have had without putting it up? The last few days I've been taking a cup of water outside with me and put them in that when I see any. That takes care of them. I'm considering taking my trap down. One thing I HATE about it is that it smells sooooo BAD! Seriously, I can just barely stand it. Cathy

Thanks donnas. You can get a free Photobucket account. You simply upload your pictures; I resize the picture in Photobucket so that it fits the page well (without expanding off to the right). You copy the tag, as shown in the picture below, directly into this thread. Here's another hummer shot; I took it at the same feeder at a different angle. I've had the impatiens there since May; I can't believe I've missed such colorful shots! Too bad it was at dusk; it came out kind of grainy :( At least I have a second male. He was also perched on the fence (the same spot that my regular frequents) while my regular male was at the feeder. I was surprised that one didn't chase away the other...