Hummingbird Encounter

The other day I was taking a few pictures in the garden and had the pleasure of watching a hummingbird feed before the sun went down. He was getting nectar from plants I don't normally see them drinking from like the new Rudbeckia 'Maxima', Cosmos and Zinnias.

I was lucky enough to capture a few decent pictures of him.

I guess he was a little camera shy in this shot. Here I captured him taking a little rest, but his back was towards me as if to punish me for trying to get a picture of him in the first place...LOL.

Toolbox Planters

I just listed these adorable toolbox planters on Etsy this morning. They are so fun and funky.

I always loved the look of old tool boxes and I asked Gary if he could recreate some for me. I was a little scared when I decided to paint them such bold colors, but I think they turned out well, don't you think? Every garden needs a little boldness.

Each box can be used for all sorts of things. Not only would it make a great planter box, but it's sturdy enough to lug around your small hand garden tools, gloves, pruners, whatever. It even will hold eight pint sized berry baskets and three quart size baskets, with room to spare for cut flowers.

Quick Update

Sorry for the delay in getting any posts out this week, but our home computer is down and in the shop. It's been there since this past Saturday and they are supposed to finally get a look at it today. I guess computer repair is big business. Most good shops are backed up. I guess that is good for local business, but not good for me. I wonder if I should get a laptop after all, that way I won't be completely down when one breaks down.

It seems like the more technology advances the more problems you have. I remember a television lasting 15-20 years. We've gone through three televisions since we've been married and we've only been married for a little over 7 years. This is our third computer as well, and this one is less than two years old.

You may have noticed a new eHow widget on the sidebar to your right. I just began writing articles for them. I will also write articles for the blog and for our main website, but eHow has such a following and is so high up in the google search results, I just had to take a stab at writing for them. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, I'd love it if you would check out what I've written so far.

The gardens are winding down this time of year. The only thing really blooming well are the rudbeckias and late blooming garden phlox. Once again I am reminded why I should have planted more annuals. The cleome, cosmos, and petunias look great in the new bed.

The veggies are doing OK. Nothing spectacular. The one remaining cherry tomato is starting to get blight on the fruit, so I am losing more than I'm harvesting. I may just pull the plant all together over the weekend. I harvested our first yellow zucchini the other day and will probably have another one to harvest today. I will try and post a picture as soon as we get our computer situation figured out. They are such a beautiful sunny yellow color. Hopefully I will have some new recipes to post on our weight loss blog. In the meantime you can check out what I've posted so far here.

Etsy sales have been OK. It seems like as soon as I get a few things lined up to put in our shop, I sell them locally before they ever make it. I hope to get some more things together this weekend. Things I had been reluctant to ship, but I think I have a good handle on packaging fragile items, so I think I will go for it.

Veggie Garden Update - Tomato Blight

Well, I guess it was bound to happen. There has been a terrible disease going around this year that has been affecting all the tomatoes, it seems, and mine were not spared. I'm not sure if it's the dreaded late tomato blight or something else, but I ended up removing two of the three tomato plants.

Part of the problem was that I did not have time to remove the affected leaves right when I started seeing them, so once I got around to snipping off all the infected parts of the plant, it was a lost cause. In less than a week's time, two tomato plants were completely infected and it had started to spread to the fruit as well. I saw no hope in them surviving, so to try and save the last remaining plant, I decided to just pull out the whole plants.

Diseased plants should never be composted, so I cut them up and put them inside a large garbage bag. I disinfected the scissors I used with rubbing alcohol and have tried to remove the infected leaves on the remaining plant with more diligence. I've gotten 13 ripe cherry tomatoes from this plant so far and the fruit has not been affected as of this post. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they don't.

On an up note, there is more space and light for the zucchini and cucumbers and some may be ready for picking in the next 1-2 weeks, so I'm happy about that. I can't believe how much the fruit on these plants has grown since giving them more sunshine. The zucchini is such a pretty yellow color, it's almost like technicolor it's so bright. I'll have to take a picture of it soon to show you all.

Though I got these few veggies in the ground late this year, I think their growth was greatly slowed by the cool nights and cooler than normal days we had in June and July. It's been unbearably humid and in the upper 80s to near 90 most of the time for the past 2-1/2 weeks. We've gotten some regular rain and that is a good combination for getting these warm loving vegetables to grow. I have a green pepper that can be picked any time now, and I think I will go ahead and pick it so that nothing happens to it. :)

So how are your veggies doing?

Late Summer in the Garden

This first photo is a new phlox in my garden called simply Phlox 'Paniculata'. It's supposed to be a vigorous grower and I hope it is so I can spread it around the whole yard.

'Lady in Red' hydrangea is really putting on a beautiful show right now. Her blooms are so pretty as they fade from white to pink.

This is a hardy hibiscus. The variety name escapes me at the moment. I believe it's 'Crimson Wonder', but I am not a 100% sure on that and the plant tag must be buried, because I didn't see it when I took the picture.

This is probably one of my favorite Phlox at the moment. It's called 'Bright Eyes'. Spread decently without being invasive. I have it in a fairly shady area and it still blooms wonderfully. It's a great addition to my hosta garden.

You can't beat the impact that Black Eyed Susans and Coneflowers make in a later summer garden. Always reliable and full of color, I need to plant more of these beauties next year, I think.

Late blooming Daylilies

'Longfield's Twins'

'Hudson Valley'

'Double Dixie'

'Chicago Apache'

Tag says it should be 'Cattleya Frills', but this is not what it's supposed to look like. Still pretty though.

Blog Giveaway at Pat Winter Gatherings

You must check out the cutest giveaway over at Pat's Winter Gatherings. She's giving away these adorable bird's nest earrings on Saturday, August 23, 2009. I must say these are right up my alley. I love birds so much.

Please visit her blog and check it out.

http://gatherings100.blogspot.com/2009/08/time-for-small-giveaway.html

Update on the New Round Bed

Early this Spring, we created a new round bed for a metal bird tree that we purchased at the Rochester Flower show in March. I thought I'd just show you how everything was doing.



I used a lot of annuals since the perennials I planted were so small. I wish I had done the same in the mixed border and butterfly garden. Every year I say I am going to plant more annuals and I never do and every year I regret it. Even though perennials provide a lot of blooms in my gardens, there is always a few weeks here and there where nothing much is blooming and since annuals bloom constantly, they are nice fill-ins between bloom times and seasons.


Here's another cleome from that bed. I've already shown you some white ones and one with just a hit of pink of the tips, but this one is hot pink and so gorgeous!

I have high hopes for this plant and hope to plant it all over my yard if it grows well. It's a Rudbeckia called, simply, 'Maxima'. It's supposed to grow from between 5'-7' tall. I have three in this bed and they are probably 6' tall in their first year alone. The stems seem to be sturdy and they have large leaves for a Rudbeckia. I first saw this plant a few years back at an ice cream stand we used to frequent. I tried to get seeds off it one year, but they never sprouted. I'm guessing the seeds weren't mature enough and I was not as experienced at seed saving and sowing back then. Last year I saw this in the Bluestone Perennials catalog and it dawned on me that this must be the same plant from the ice cream stand. I had to have it and so I bought a three pack.

The only day lily left blooming in this bed right now is a new one called 'Hudson Valley'. It has really large blooms in a wonderful bright yellow color. I just love it.

As you can see from the photo above, things are pretty well filled in thanks to the annuals. I hope I remember this next year and plant a few in my other beds.

Veggie Garden Update

I don't think I ever posted about the vegetable garden this year. It's really nothing to jump for joy over. Our regular veggie beds are being taken over by the greenhouse (if it ever gets built), so I didn't want to plant there again this year.

My mom had started some tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers, and zucchini and had more than she needed, so I took a few plants. We ended up clearing a 6' x 6' area in the side yard. I figure I can use that area for bearded iris next year.

I didn't get the plants in the ground until early June, so if I get a harvest at all, I'll be surprised. The area is small enough that I probably could cover it with plastic if frost threatens early. Here's what it looked like a couple of weeks after planting.

And here it is today.

Wow! Has it grown! The tomato plants were started from seed from a packet of seeds that had an assorted variety to choose from, so I have no idea what they will be. I believe the varieties were all salad tomatoes, so I imagine they will be a combination of cherry and grape tomatoes mostly. All three tomato plants appear to be different varieties based on the size and shape of the fruit so far.

I have two green pepper plants and each one is growing a pepper. Not sure if we will get any more on these plants before frost or not. They keep flowering, but are not producing any more fruit. Hmmmm....

I planted, what I had thought to be five cucumber plants, but one has turned out to be a yellow zucchini. Can you guess which one it is in the photo? Yep, you guessed it, it's that giant plant with the big leaves in the middle. I don't know if any of the cucumber plants will produce enough fruit for us with that large zucchini taking up all the room, but I am confident we'll get at least a few.

So that is my exciting vegetable garden for this year. My plans are to surround the new greenhouse with vegetable gardens next year. I'd like to fence them in with a cute little white picket fence to keep the critters out. At each corner of the garden, I'd like a 4x4 post (painted white) tall enough to hang either baskets of herbs or those Topsy Turvy tomato planters. Tomatoes take up so much room and not sure if I will have enough room to plant everything I want in the ground, so I need to start thinking about ways to plant up.

So how is your vegetable garden doing this year?

New Hosta Babies

Last week I got an e-mail from one of my favorite hosta nurseries, Bridgewood Gardens. They were telling me that 'Empress Wu' was in stock again, but to hurry because she sold out in three days last time.

For some reason, I did not remember ever getting that last e-mail about 'Empress Wu'. Well, I guess I'd better check it out. So I click on the link and I am in awe. This hosta is a monster. A monster I just have to have. Can you imagine the leaf castings I can make from this baby! I am in heaven.

Photo courtesy of Bridgewood Gardens website

At this point I am curious to know more about these large hostas and discover that there are two others of similar size that, of course, I have to have.

The first is called 'Big Kahuna' a variegated variety with puckered leaves of gold with green along the edge. You can view more pictures at the Hosta Library.

Photo courtesy of Walters Gardens

The last monster I found is called 'Amos' and has very puckered leaves of green, although they appear to have a bluish cast to them in some of the photos I saw. Here's the link to more photos at the Hosta Library.

Photo taken by Brian Skaggs courtesy of the Hosta Library

When I opened the box, I was like a giggling school girl trembling with anticipation. I knew these were going to be small plants. One was advertised as a 3" pot with the other two being single eyes. I had decided to order two other hostas besides 'Empress Wu'. 'Barbara Ann' because that is my Aunt's name and 'Christmas Tree' because I like the way it looks. I hope to grow 'Barbara Ann' for a year or two, then I can divide it and send a clump to my favorite Aunt.

After opening the box, I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the plants. Their root systems are very well developed and they don't seem stressed in any way. Another wonderful purchase from Bridgewood Gardens.

Here's what they looked like right out of the box. They were wrapped in newspaper and newspaper filled the spaces in the box, so there was very little dirt loss from the pots and bags they were in.

From left to right, 'Barbara Ann', 'Empress Wu', and 'Christmas Tree'

Two are in 8" pots with 'Empress Wu' being in a gallon pot.

From left to right, 'Christmas Tree', 'Empress Wu', 'Barbara Ann'

I think I will sink all my potted plants this year in the veggie garden for the winter in the hopes they will be better protected from the voles this year. I will probably place chicken wire or garden fencing around the shrubs that will be potted and lay chicken wire on top of the pots and soil of all the hostas and other plants that die back to the ground for the winter. I don't want to lose as many plants as last year. I couldn't go through that again. If you missed that post, check it out here.

Handcrafted Toad Abode Giveaway

You must check out My Mother's Garden for up to five chances to win a beautiful toad abode.

I've had my eye on her Etsy shop for a while now and it's fantastic. Please take a look. You won't be sorry.

The giveaway starts today, Sunday, August 9th, and will end at Midnight Eastern time on Monday, August 17th. So hurry and visit her blog today to enter.

My Seed Saving Tips

Collecting and saving seeds is a fun way to share with friends. It’s an easy way to save money as you won’t need to buy seed for next year or you can start new plants from seed, sell them or keep them for yourself. It’s also a great way to meet new people when you participate in seed swaps.

To read the complete article, click here.