Clematis

While enjoying a few drinks at a friends yesterday I couldn't help but admire the white clematis she has trailing along an arbor in the back of the property. Her purchase was $5 a pot (I shelled out $20.00 for mine) and hers are in beautiful bloom. I have height, but no flower to mine. I loved these, She said the sale was continuing for a while, I might find a plant or two left.

We have success!!!!

How exciting!!! I checked on the tomatoes only to see a whack of fruit growing upon their vines. I must shield them from the corn child from here on in. Every plant has a few tomatoes growing on them, with all of our setbacks, to see them progress this far is soo exciting.

Wild Weather

This week was an absoloute rollercoaster for the weather. Did I mention that if you didn't like the weather you should wait ten minutes? Well that saying was proven yet again as we experienced everything from hot muggy stifling temperatures to incredible lows, severe thunder, wicked winds and hail. The thunderstorms were so severe my two pupheads were found cowering in bed with C when I got home from work and normally they are not fraidy pups. The lightning was so distracting on my drive home I had to remind myself NOT to stare out my passenger window but to keep my eyes on the road itself. I lost a few plants to the wind, namely a blooming stalk of phlox and a few weak stems on the tomato plants. The poor tomato plants also took a major beating in the hail storm and have scars on the stems where the hail pelted at them, the Canna Lilly also has torn leafs where the hail ripped right through to the ground. The hydrangeas in the flower boxes wilted in the suffocating heat and I thought they were goners for sure. It does appear that all plants have however managed to continue to live and thrive in the garden, despite the wild weather and mounting odds against them. The storms have since parted (hopefully for a few days) and the weather has been a comfortable 20 - 25 degrees, absoloutely perfect for sharing a drink in the backyard with neighbours (all of whom are watching my tomato plants with a careful eye- remember no fence), or taking the doggies for a walk along the lakefront. Bryan and Kaycee normally suffer through the summer months with their hot black fur coats, and since Byran believes that it is unregal of him to have a wet coat, he suffers most. Yesterday the weather was a perfect sunny but bearable day for the doggies so I strutted out to the waterfront for a stroll. All three of us were very happy to meet Sammy, a fellow Berner sitting with his Mistress and keeping watch of the grandchildren playing in the park.

Keeping up with the Jones'

I have been a terrible journaller as of late. Things have been just soo hectic around the house that I have not had a moment to myself to post the pics of the garden as it grows. Now that the weather is soo nice I want to spend all my time IN my garden and not writing about my garden. But I digress, there have been a few changes to my little front garden. The cabbage that was destroyed by the little white cabbage butterfly larvae was sent for compost, but today I saw this.. Laying more of her destructive uninsatiable babies again.

There are some other "pests" that have made my garden their home, for example, this petunia was never planted by me, but the seed (I suspect from my neighbour since she has a tonne of these) somehow ended up sowing in an empty container I had. Something told me not to bother pulling it as a weed. I am actually glad I didn't. now I have a free container!

Remember that hydrangea I thought I had killed? One of them has bloomed, the other is much slower, I have yet to see buds, but I will let it be. I remember from my mom's garden that it took several years for the hydrangea to blossom into this huge 6 foot tall bushy shrub. (I am not sure I want it that big)

The hosta has also began to bloom, I really adore these flowers. They have such a delicatness to them but hang on a sturdy stem.