GREEN THUMB SUNDAY- First Harvest

I knew the tomatillos were ready, but I found this first zucchini today when I was out watering and weeding in my garden. What shall I make with my first harvest?

The green beans will be ready next week, I think.


And this tomato is the closest one to being ripe.

Now presenting the 'All Day-lily, All the Time' Coverage

Just kidding, but it is fun to go out and see if there is a new daylily blooming, every day. This lovely raspberry pink colored one is a new fave for me.

Chocolate –flavored Marshmellows!!


So, maybe this isn't news to you, but I was shopping and saw - pink, strawberry flavored marshmellows ! Those look like fun! Then I saw the chocolate ones. 'Maybe they aren't very good,' I thought. 'But how will I know unless I buy them and try them?' So I bought both.

I have two sons-in-law who love marshmellows. Maybe they will get some of these before we eat them all- maybe not! The little bag of plain marshmallows in the front of the picture is a remnant from a s'mores and stale marshmellow (mallow??) feast some time ago.

Oh- and the chocolate ones? Deliciouso! Primo! Lovely! Haven't sampled the strawberry ones yet.

Not we return to our regular day-lily blog coverage.

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY –more DAYLILIES


I said I'd post a pic of my double orange daylilies- but, duh! they are in the lovely header my daughter made for me some time back!! We have a small break in the heat, hope things cool down for everyone soon. The weather map in our paper shows 'red' states all across the U.S. -too hot for sure.

7/7/07

In honor of the date, I am borrowing this idea from Kylee over at http://ourlittleacre.blogspot.com/, who borrowed it from Carol at May Dreams Garden.

Seven things about me:
1. I’m left-handed. So is my sister, and three of my five children.

2. I was the most outspoken and even bossiest of my siblings, I am sorry to say.

3. I am not a fan of soda. I could probably go the rest of my life and never drink soda again. When I have pizza, I wash it down with a big glass of milk, which is way better.

4. I can’t take too much violence in movies- more than I used to, though. I guess I get too involved in the story – my family has heard me say ‘I can’t stand it!’ at about a million movies (starting with the original Star Wars)

5. Even though I don’t like too much violence or suspense, I am a big plot junkie. That is one reason I love Star Trek (yeah, I know, it’s not a good plot, but it does have an on-going story and a plot). I used to read my kids’ Beverly Cleary books, or, more recently, the Barbara Parks series (y’know, Junie B. Jones) for a quick plot fix. Pathetic, I know.

6. Probably my least favorite colors are purple and orange. (well, I can’t stand the old lady color combo of purple and red together, either, but that is a different story). I really don’t like orange. It was one of my school colors, along with black, and I remember wearing orange on our spirit days in high school and thinking I looked awful in it. I do, however, love peach, coral, salmon, etc.

7. I believe in Smart Mouth Purgatory- a non-doctrinal place where I am sure I’ll end up, probably with a few friends, as a consequence of my, well, smart mouth.

There’s my 7, I am tagging Sassy, Edge, Jean, and anybody else who wants to play along.

RED WHITE AND BLUE


This is my pathetic sunburn I got while watching the 4th of July parade on Wednesday. Everybody wishes they could be as cool as me!

Day-Lily-palooza

Thought I'd post a few of the daylilies that are blooming now. I could use a few more, don't you think? oh, I have a double orange that I don't have a picture of, will post it another day, i had to resize these so they wouldn't take forever to load.

Peach beauty for GREEN THUMB SUNDAY

I hope the daylily show will not be too brief. This peach colored daylily is one of my favorites. I have an lovely strong red colored one, but it looks garish in the picture I took. Hard to believe it is the first of July already!

Volunteers in the garden

Last year and this, we have enjoyed a few 'bonus' plants in our vegetable garden. Last year we had (too many) butternut squash, yellow pear tomatoes, cantaloupe, and the everpresent sunflowers. This year the sunflowers are back, but I have pulled almost all the tomato and squash plants and thrown them in the compost pile as I've been weeding.
The sunflowers are a favorite bonus - this one is over 6 feet tall, and stands sentinel in the middle of the garden. A few years ago my husband saw a small sunflower plant in the garden, and kindly asked me if he could weed it out. 'No,' I said, 'it's a sunflower! Let it grow!' DH shook his head and said, 'I don't think it is, I think it is a weed.' Months later, and when the stem had grown into a two-inch diameter trunk, I saw that he was right! It was some kind of weed (with sunflower leaves! I swear!) with thorns, absolutely nasty, and not a flower in sight. I couldn't pull it out myself, so had to ask for his help and admit that he was right.

This picture shows some of the volunteers that came up in last year's compost pile's spot: tomatillos, tomatoes, and dill, I think. It is a big crowded mess, but I will see what I get out of it.
Do you have any volunteer plants this year?

Browsing around the web

I was looking at other blogs, and Veggie Mama mentioned mine, so I thought I'd make a short list of some of my favorite gardening blogs (which seems to be growing all the time):
Veggie Mama at http://www.mspmedia.net/garden.html

Sweet Home and Garden Chicago at http://sweethomeandgardenchicago.blogspot.com/

Our Little Acre at http://ourlittleacre.blogspot.com/

Ilona's Garden Journal at http://ilonagarden.blogspot.com/

In a Garden at http://sandy2.wordpress.com/

The Compulsive Gardener at http://thecompulsiveworriersgarden.blogspot.com/

Mrs Green Thumb Jean at http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/

check them out if you haven't already found them on your own -

mystery plant, revisited

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of a plant that looked like a rose plant, but had some kind of funky fluff instead of rose blooms on it. Yesterday, as I was deadheading in the yard, I noticed this bloom on my otherwise 'normal' two-tone red/orange rose. It is about 8 feet away from the mystery plant. You can see the under part of the flower, the sepal area, is the same as the 'fluff' of the mystery plant.
I am speculating that my mystery plant is the rootstock of this red/orange rose, which has traveled a few feet and popped up in a new spot. Any other speculations?

Free plants!

Well, these are not actually for me, my Edgy daughter (pretend that links to her, ok?)and spouse bought some Aegopodium (Bishop's Weed) to fill in a garden bed. Then the 4 year old and friend had a mud party and pulled up a lot of it. They replanted it, and some of it is coming back (this is one tough plant!). I sent them some from my yard yesterday, but today I was walking home, and saw my neighbor weeding hers out. So I asked for it, and here it is, the deal of the day. You can't beat free plants, I always say.

Two more silver faves for Green Thumb Sunday

The names, the names! I can't remember the names of these plants! They are both great for dry, sunny spots, the one on the left is ??? ack, I can't remember! The one on the right is a sage, I think it is called pussy toes ?

California Poppies

We have had orange CA poppies that wander around our yard for years. They are fun, pretty, and require no care.

Then this spring, I saw a package of 'Creamsicle' CA poppies at good old Wal-mart. I started the seeds in little peat pots, and planted them out a few weeks ago (in the pots, they don't transplant well). I like white flowers, too, and the first one bloomed today. I am hoping these will 'weed around' the yard like the orange (and yellow) ones do ! A small success in my garden.

grey beauty

I have developed a fondness for grey foliage. This is Powis Castle Artemesia with some lavendar, a nice combination, I think.


This picture shows an artemesia that volunteers around my garden, I can count on it to use for filler for vases in the house. It looks good with almost everything (not yellow!) - I love it with pink roses. I believe it is Silver King artemesia, but I could be wrong.


This is some lamb's ear, a friend gave me a start. I had some Silver Brocade Artemesia at one point, but it has died off, so maybe I'll get some more. Not a fan of the Silver mound variety, it tends to get a hole in the center as the season progresses.
Anyone else out there love the greys? I have a few others I'll post later!

Green Thumb Sunday - name this plant!

Well, I thought this was a volunteer wild rose, until it 'bloomed'. Any guesses? You can see the leaves and structure make it look like a rose???????

the thrill of compost

My DH got a lawn business to drop off this load of grass clippings Saturday. It is already looking like a big ol' mess, but I have been hauling wheelbarrow loads full back to the compost pile. Last year's compost pile has finally been 'sifted' and moved, and now with this mountain of grass clippings, I can mix it in with the bags and bags of leaves I acquired last fall to make a perfect mixture of compostable fun!

I really do enjoy moving my compost, layering it, watering it, using it. I have been known to chortle and rub my hands as I look at my lovely pile of stuff. Why does this make me so happy? Most people look at grass clippings and leaves as something to send off to the dump - I see 'black gold' ! The fact that the materials are free and the end result is so valuable appeals to my thrifty side. It just takes some time, water, and tending and voila! Free compost, great for planting new plants, prepping a garden bed, enriching an existing perennial bed.. good for just about anything, really! Ok, maybe an exaggeration, but not much of one.


My compost pile is not in the ideal spot, it is under some tall Austrian pines at the back of our yard. I don't keep it watered as I could, and it is a slow, cool pile, but one thing about compost, it eventually happens whether you do everything perfectly or not. You can see in this picture the stuff on the right is last year's pile, turned from the left side, and the growing pile of grass clippings and leaves on the left.
Now if my back will just hold out while I get all this stuff layered in.........

rose versus evergreen

We have lived in this home for almost 6 years. Out my back window (over my kitchen sink) is a lovely view of this beautiful bicolor red/orange rose.


Over time, the tree has crowded the rose to the point that something has got to go. We've decided to get rid of the tree, which is too bad, it is a wonderful tree, but has gotten out of proportion to the bed it is in. Maybe then the rose won't have to say 'scuse me' all summer long.

Another Iris for Green Thumb Sunday

Well, this one is another unidentified iris, a nice coral pink with tangerine beard. Did I tell you I have some free irises coming soon, with new colors?????? Iris fun never ends, you see...

Sally Holmes rose

Well, the irises are almost done, I am very sad about this, but it is great to have the roses starting to bloom. I planted this climber in a spot by a small curved stairway and fence, but it hasn't started climbing on the fence yet. It is a pretty little thing, though.

Muscle in the garden

While I was planting the veggie garden (two weeks late!), my DH was commiting this carnage in the walking garden. Some dead stuff, volunteer wild fruit trees, and lots of weeds were taken out. You can also see mock orange trimmings,if you look closely. Hurrah! It's great to have some muscle on your side in the garden.

Green Thumb Sunday iris mania continues

This is one of the pink irises that are blooming this year - 'Prissy Miss' or 'Sunday Chimes' or Cherub's Smile' - I am not sure, but I sure do love it! I am already planning and plotting about where to move irises to put colors together better for next year.

Thornbird???

ok, I was poking around, looking at irises online, and have found what I think is the unique and ugly iris I posted about a few days ago, here is a pic from Schreiner's website, see what you think of this ecru and lavendar 'beauty' -



Here is the description from the online catalog:
Note Thornbird's dark violet horns extending an inch or more from the beards. Like talons, they create an appealing contrast to the flower's delicate shadings. These ecru and greenish tan shades are lighter in the standards and darker in the falls. A prolific bloomer, Thornbird often yields more than one stem per rhizome.

hmm, maybe not. They aren't really alike, I guess. I'll keep looking. I looked at mine, the standards- the top three petals (and I'm new to iris terms, so bear with me)- are a kind of blah peach color, the bottom petals - the falls - are a depressed yellow, w/ brown/lavendar-y shading. The beard is some type of orange stubble rising from a lavendar/purple base ?? all in all, not my favorite combo. If anyone really knows what this is, let me know! It must have a better name than 'ugly duckling' which is what I have christened it.

Mango Salsa

ok, a break in the iris coverage!
I had some mango salsa at a Mexican restaurant, and then found a recipe:

· 1 mango - peeled, seeded and chopped
· 1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
· 1 green onion, chopped
· 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
· 1 fresh jalapeno chile pepper, finely chopped (use half for a milder kick)
· 2 tablespoons lime juice
· 1 tablespoon lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium bowl, mix mango, red bell pepper, green onion, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and lemon juice. Cover, and allow to sit at least 30 minutes before serving.

This is yummy!

Unknown and Ugly- Green Thumb Sunday

I'm not sure where this iris came from. I know when I bought it the color on the package was not like this, or I would not have bought it. Alkaline soil? Mislabeled iris? who knows? If anyone has a guess on what this one is called, please let me know. I am calling it 'Ugly Duckling'. I keep hoping it will bloom and be beautiful, instead of just plain ole' weird.

Iris beauty

This is 'Champagne Elegance', the first year it has bloomed in my garden. I love it!!!
Then, this one bloomed:

And I like it even better. Now if I could just decipher my notes to figure out it's name, I am making up a name and calling it 'cheesecake'.

white bleeding heart for Green Thumb Sunday

I love this little plant, it pops up in the spring and is so beautiful, then disappears for another year.

planting that dry bed

I know this doesn't look like much, but I will try and take a picture later when the hens and chicks and sedum have taken hold and they are looking fabulous! ( I hope). It's a good feeling to think of a small project and get it done.

this time I'm a Canna!

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

Well, I guess it is a woman's perogative to change her mind/flower.

hens and chicks to the rescue

As I was out weeding a neighboring bed this morning, I looked at this empty bed and thought, what can I put here? It is a dry area, bone dry. Then I decided I could move some dragon’s blood sedum there, and it would look good.



As I was headed in, my neighbor offered me some hens and chicks! Just the thing for that spot that doesn’t get enough water to grow much else!

Green Thumb Sunday

I was out looking for those elusive pheasants and took a pic of our Japanese Maple, it has just leafed out and I love it! It is beautiful to see out of my kitchen window, too.

Interview meme

Well, the Sassy One (http://www.thesassylime.blogspot.com/) interviewed me, here are her questions and my answers:

1 - how did you come by your love of gardening?
It has just grown over the years; I really love flowers, the colors and the forms, the surprises when I walk out in the yard. I love knowing the names of plants, and knowing how to grow them. …
2 - how is parenting different the second time around?
What do you like about being a grandma?
Most of the time it is a lot mellower.. I feel more ‘on top’ of things and can not be so rushed about things. That’s just most of the time, mind you. Being ‘Grandma’ is great- probably because my grandkids are so wonderful and clever and cute and…
3 - outline a typical day in the life of Muum for us:
Let me tell you about today. I got up late, about 6:30 a.m., because I hadn’t slept well in the night. Showered and helped little sis get out the door.
Went to work till noon, then went plant shopping and to the library on the way home. I got some herbs for our herb pots and some other irresistible plants for the yard.
Came home, took a nap and read the funnies. Got up and worked on laundry and other household chores. Did some paper work, watered plants. Talked on the phone to several of my kids. Greeted little sis when she came home from school, and worked on the laundry some more.
Made dinner, and tried (again) to get a photo of the pair of pheasants that I hear and see in the back yard almost daily. The rest of the day is almost as hum drum as what I’ve already written -enough!
4 - did your kids turn out the way you thought they would?
Way better! Seeing you all make great choices and stay faithful to the gospel makes me happy everyday.
5 - If you were to eat your favorite meal (no concern for cost or calories), what would it be? include dessert, of course!
H mm, this is tough. I like so many foods… Grilled salmon from Timber mine, with a great green salad (no iceberg lettuce allowed), and some gooey chocolatey thing for dessert. Milk to drink, of course. Or maybe popeye and mashed potatoes??? Oh! Pizza! Pretty much any kind…(I guess you said meal, not meals…)


DIRECTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW MEME
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

White Iris and herbs

The irises have begun! First are the white ones, which are lovely, I'd say. Some people think irises are too oldfashioned, too common. That may be true, but they sure are elegant, they come in so many colors, and they are so reliable. All good qualities in a perennial.

Also, just a peek at my current project, I am making herb pots for my daughters and me.

mystery mini tulip?

These little guys pop up around the garden. Any body know what they are? I love the color!