Oops! I deleted a picture while fiddling around in Photobucket. I am putting it back. I have a thing about zinnias. I love them! I hate when they get powdery mildew, and I try to keep mine from getting infected. You can do a few things... Let water run on the ground to water them, instead of overhead watering. Actually, this applies to almost all flowers, and many vegetables as well. You can spray them when the seedlings are young, with a fungicide. If you keep your zinnias in a patch, this is not hard to do. Fungicides need to be in place before the fungus gets there to be effective. Use one of the pump up sprayers, to get under leaves and all. You can plant additional seeds about every three weeks or once a month. (We plant zinnias through the month of August, to get blooms before frost.) If you get PM on your zinnias, clip the old plant at the ground, instead of pulling, to keep from damaging the roots of surrounding plants, and the young one is there to take it's place. Don't ask me why the young ones don't have the mildew too, but I have found that they usually do not. We built the low fence this morning. It took about 2 hours, and I LOVE IT, LOVE IT! I am going to take pictures in a little while. I am trying to get finished raking up debris in the garden, and I am planting like crazy. I will also take some pictures of the birdhouses. Janie

Thanks a lot for all your comments, I appreciate those! hey_j, I actually shot all the pictures in 15-20 minutes, because that severe storm was forcasted, but it only had a heavy rain with a few little hail pieces dancing on the deck, no damage. But there was an actual observation of golf ball size hail about 15 miles north of here earlier yesterday. After 2:40 pm here I have no longer time for gardening, because our grandson comes then from school and wants full attention. Working all day until 8:30 pm outside is certainly exhausting. I do only 4 to 5 hours and quit then. I do not plan to dig up more lawn, our 8 year old wants space. There are a lot of immature hostas around my house which replaced most of the big green and albomarginatas, so the next years should be exciting for me seeing all those mature. I noticed just the last days that I still have quite a few spots I can plant more, that is whatever I see interesting this summer will find a home. I noticed that the green with yellow margin hostas I have enough of. Phil, 'Barbara Ann' is described in the Hosta Library as "also shows no drawstring effect", found that strange to mention it there. But mine had leaves which are more cupped and then the edges ripped, which seems to be a drawstring effect. The new leaves coming up now are normal. That one is to become a big plant. BErnd

Today I picked two Rutgers and one Jet Star. Not quite ripe yet, though they were turning orangish on the vines. One had some fruit worm damage near the top, but I got the bugger and will just cut out the bad part of it. I can't believe I actually harvested 3 tomatos! Am I dreaming or not? Can't wait to taste them and two should be ready tomorrow or the next day. They went from gold to orange in 1 day!! Scott, that is one oversized softball your little one has there! Does he like tomatos? So many kids today don't because they are used to the flavorless ones they experience on a flavorless Mickey D hamburger. Even I don't really know what to expect when I take that first bite of a fresh, grown my me, hopefully flavorFUL tomato. But, I'll be sure to let you know. We also had our first blueberry pancakes yesterday morning with our very own blueberries, Scott! Kenna enjoyed picking them and eating them. Susan

Lesley, sorry about the rabbits. I understand how frustrating that is because for me its the deer who eat both my lilies and my roses. I have had some success with applying deer repellent (Liquid Fence) but lost quite a few lilies to the ground and some roses too before I started using it. I have to reapply it often, especially after it rains but its worth it to have lilies & roses. Beth, I grow hundreds of lilies and love them tremendously....second after roses. I just love all the color combinations and the fragrance, not to mention that they come up and multiply every year. My Maria Stern came from Pickering. It has HUGE blooms and is not the bold orange I see in others' photos of her...more of a soft salmon-orange and very pretty. Ingrid...the bright pink rose to the right of Maria Stern is Frontenac. It is very hardy but will grow anywhere. This rose has one of the highest bloom counts of all my modern roses, as it is literally smothered all summer. The color may not appeal to everyone because it is so bright, but it really wakes up the garden. I love it. Celeste Here's a closeup of Frontenac for Ingrid....