green and purple

My regular bush green beans aren't producing much. Last two pickings all I got was enough for one serving. I made a new recipe with it, book borrowed from the public library. It's nicely tossed with a tiny bit of butter, garlic, and fresh herbs. The recipe calls for dill but suggests other herbs. I tried tarragon- now that I have a plentiful supply! pretty good. Would like to try with chervil too but mine's long spent.

Cowpeas are finally blooming! Pretty lavender color. Doubt I'll get beans mature enough to save as dried, just hoping for ones to eat as fresh 'green beans' now.

Benne would be a pretty plant, if mine wasn't so damaged by insects. I like the flowers. They now have fat, oblong slightly fuzzy pods on the stems. Intriguing to see them develop as I haven't grown this plant before.

My hollyhock mallows have gotten taller, and the flowers are more visible- makes me think they might be worth growing in the front bed next year.

I have one small cantaloupe!

and have eaten one more zucchini. Nice size and great taste, just wish there were more. Which is a really funny thing to say about zucchini.

other plants

This is a pretty surprise- my hollyhock mallow is flowering!

Well, one of the two left alive. And can't really see the flower unless I get close and move a leaf. But maybe it will grow more.

More flowers- gladiolas are blooming!

And cardinal climber- although there aren't any in this picture- the plants grew more sparsely on the trellis than I expected. Maybe if I pinch out some of the vines up top which are winding all over the deck, they'll branch out more below. 

A hummingbird came to its flowers yesterday! It was a brief moment, but felt so magical, to watch it for a few seconds as it sipped from the red flowers, then zoomed away.

I think I missed the flowering of my milkweed on the sideyard. 

The plants have fat pods already, but they look unhealthy to me- black as if moldy. Haven't seen any caterpillars yet, but I did see a monarch in the echinacea patch the other day. I always expect them too soon!

Trimmed some stuff here recently. There's still way too much clover around the path, but I don't mind. Ajuga on either side is filling in quickly enough, and meanwhile I cut the clover periodically to use as garden mulch. 

I had to cut back the salvia from one side of the path. I like how the sedums look now.

In the bed around the pannicle hydrangeas, this plant I didn't recognize (these pics from two weeks ago)

has bloomed, and proven itself a stranger. It's gone skinny and tall, with small sky-blue flowers.

Hard to see among the salvia and nicotiana, except for their brightness.

There's also blue in my kid's part of the garden- blue sage flowering

And up on the deck, the pales of my geraniums, has bold red petals

final sowing

I started in pots today zucchini, cucumber, cantaloupe, bush green beans and cowpeas. They're on the lowest shelf of the greenhouse, door propped wide open so it doesn't overheat. Won't need a hardening off period, and really it's just to get the seed sprouted, then they go straight in the ground. So the squirrel doesn't dig up and eat the seeds immediately! 

Yesterday was a bit cloudy and today is due to rain, so I planted out: tarragon and salad burnet into the herb bed

Tithonias onto the empty sideyard, below where I buried the gladiola bulbs and above where I transplanted three wide-leaved common milkweed last week.

Two new england asters, also on that hillside, surrounded by a ring of stones so I don't forget where they are and step on them, they're so small yet.

Three hollyhock mallow aka zebrina flower, against the fence by the garden.

This purplish plant I bought on a whim and now can't remember the name of. Between the pots of limelight coleus, and the espresso geranium alongside the stairs.

Under the large holly bush, I tucked the persian shield plants in a few gaps between the dark heucherellas,

and a row of rooted tradescantia zebrina cuttings in front of that. Just for fun, to see how they do.

Edged that area with stones discarded from my husband's fossil-hunting. It's kind of my purple corner now.

And inside, I potted up some of my younger african violets. Most of these were still in those moldering paper cups, before.

planted and cut

I went ahead and planted my espresso geranium- in a part-shaded spot

near the deck stairs, next to the container of hyssop.

My tray of zebrina flowers has a few more sprouting- I was amazed when I saw this plant for sale at the nursery a few days ago- theirs are large plants in eight-inch pots with robust, thick leaves. Mine still so small!

I trimmed my large jade plant- pretty seriously. Have corks between a few branches to space them out better.

I removed almost all the branch ends, encouraging stoutness. Left a few leaves on so it doesn't struggle too much until new leaves grow-

Here's the pile of what I cut off- they always start to go purplish in spring, after the paler light of winter getting too much sudden sunlight. New tips are greener.

I saved some of the trimmings, to maybe start new plants.

And planted my crown of thorns! Dipped the ends first in a bit of rooting hormon powder, though I don't know if that's needed.

up today

thyme 

basil 

mexican tarragon 

amaranth 'calaloo' 

hollyhock mallow

nearing the end

of this season for the garden. I don't think I'm going to get any more tomatoes, and don't know how long the sunberry and amaranth will last.

Some things are still thriving- carrots! Haven't pulled a single one yet. I think they will taste better if I let them grow in the cooler weather a while.

Most of the herbs are still giving me flavor, although basil is looking sad now, lemon balm had a revival-

Other herbs still getting regular use in the kitchen- here a bit of parsley, chives and lovage I cut recently

Not in the garden but near it- the hollyhock mallow (zebrina flower) has doubled in size again. Only one lived. I doubt it will bloom now. I just read that in some areas this can be a pernnial- so maybe next year?

I do finally have flowers from the other one I planted late- cardinal climber! A few of the buds open in the middle of the day now

This one's grown up to the deck railing. I leaned through to get this photo.

View from below is pretty too-

I'm definitely growing this one next year. Just going to get an earlier start on it!

with pictures

Baby cantaloupes!

Joe pye weed- the standard one- turned out to be more attractive than I expected.

Still really happy with the lamb's ears under my gladiolas (which are nearly done flowering now).

But the catmint I got from friend, died. I had one cutting still alive in a pot of soil and it started growing new leaves and I thought it was time to put it outside to get more sun- but the day was too hot and when I went back outside to water it, it had dried to a crisp. I think it was too soon, didn't have enough good root system yet. 

This is definitely my hollyhock mallow (zebrina) coming up!

Tithonia starting to get taller and flower more. One got devastated by pests and I pulled it out. Have been cleaning wilted lower leaves and deadheading old blooms every other day or so, it seems to help.

Here's my cardinal climber! It looks kinda silly going up these metal racks which were for shelves in the greenhouse I didn't use, I just propped them by the fence in case the cardinal plant needed something to cling to. Which it sure did.

I'm hoping the hummingbird will come for its flowers. Last week one day when I got in the car, I saw the hummingbird at the black-and-blue salvia, hovering from one flower to the next for several minutes. And this week I saw it once in the garden, it stopped at the tithonia and then paused at the hydrangea (I didn't know hummingbirds would feed from hydrangea). It's like magic, seeing that tiny bird that hangs in the air with a thrum.

My newest set of chinese cabbage sprouted

Final news: I busted my pinkie toe. Stubbed it hard on something in the garden and it hurt a lot. Noticed later it's bloody and the nail split down the middle, vertical completely from edge to the cuticle. Spent most of yesterday sitting with my foot up and ice on it. It's not torn off or swollen, so I am just going to wait and see how it heals. I read that it takes up to eighteen months for a nail to grow back! Meanwhile I am keeping a bandaid on so it doesn't snag on something and actually tear off, and it's still a little sore today so I'm not doing as much outside work for the time being . . .