Choice Morsels

Today's Garden Pic is a container of Caladiums with a Hosta & purple Shamrock & Ajuga in the foreground. That's two kinds of Caladium: the green & white one is called "Christmas." I forget what the red one was called, but I didn't expect any of the Christmas Caladium to winter over---but apparently a bulb did! (I found it when I was planting the red.)  The Hosta is front is a large type that wasn't doing well where it was and I moved it here, where, it's gradually been doing better and better.  I can see this area from my sliding glass door and have been trying to make it visually appearing. This one area is doing fairly well. It's sort of a work in progress. The area is under a Maple tree, so mixed sun and shade plus it's left more natural and wild with the ground thick with leaves and pine straw & mulch I throw back there. I just plant this and that back there in hopes stuff will take over.

Hope you had a Happy 4th! It finally is raining today after a week of heat. Today's Garden Pic is another Coneflower blooming out in the front bed by the mailbox. I raised a group of them from seed last fall & winter, then planted in the spring. This is one of them.  

 It is soooo hot out right now! In recent days I've waited until 7pm to mow and then only a section at a time; 20-30 minutes max.  Today I rehung my Chickadee nesting house. I had it inside, gluing a portal protector on to keep the Downy Woodpeckers from drilling on the entry. Come fall, I plan on getting a Downy nest box, so they can have their own space, though I've read they primarily want a cool weather roost. And I pick up a few sticks tossed about by recent thunderstorms. It's that rainy time of year with nearly daily storms. I have plenty of firewood now for when the weather cools off. I've read we're expecting an "arctic summer," though here that may be 88 next week instead of 98, but anything is better. Garden Photos Today: Limelight 4 O'Clocks: Really this color. Bright lime leaves with magenta flowers. There's a story about these: I bought it as seed once, but never have more. I had one and saved seed from it and got 2 with the second mo...

While my tomatoes and the first round of squash are done, my cucumbers are just coming on!   I often find them standing on end like this. These are pickle cucumbers, so they grower to a shorter length; about 5 inches. They makes them quicker to enjoy. They mind the summer heat less and if I keep them picked they could last all season. I also planted a couple more spaghetti squash; one seed from packet and one I saved from a squash and both have come up. Here's a bunch picked: My favorite way to eat them is peeled & sliced with a touch of salt, Dill Weed and sour cream.

Last weekend I talked about the juvenile Mockingbirds being taught by parents to come to the suet cage hanging on my feeder. There were 3: one set of parents had 2 and the other only 1. Now that they are "on their own," they spend all their time harassing each other and chasing one another off the suet cage, each trying to be King of the Hill.  Garden Pics: First, I have a nice shot of my newest Lace Top Hydrangea in bloom. It's called "Cherry Explosion."  It was my one new garden item I ordered this spring. It's a compact variety that won't get larger then about 36 inches in circumference. I love Lace Tops. Many years ago I had a blue one I adored that was not only a blue Lace Top, but also had lovely variegated leaves. I've not seen anything like that since.   And I have Blackberries... Lots of pump, juicy Blackberries. Tame, thornless all on tall, upright stems I tie up, I used to make jam, but I don't really need that much jam any more, so I ...

I've been watching various birds the frequent my feeder teaching their young fledging's how to feed themselves.  Today's photo is a Eastern Mockingbird Parent on right teaching the Fledging sitting on the suet cage that,"this is the cafe where we dine on suet." It's actually quite amusing. You can tell the fledging has no idea what's really going on.  The parent and junior land on feeder and/or suet cage. Junior keeps eyes on the parent. The parent feeds junior a couple bites, then flies away. Junior just follows them with his eyes, then just squats on the suet cage, wondering what's going on. Sometimes, Junior will help himself to a bite or two of suet, but mainly is waiting for parent to return. Clearly the parent is trying to transmit the idea of feeding themselves. One pair of Mockingbirds have 2 fledgings, who also dumbly squatted there when the parent flew off. The two Mockingbird families have been working on this for a couple days now. They are...

Garden photos of the day: My Gardenia Topiary in full bloom! This one wasn't effected by the hard freezes we had, so it's put on a good show! I trained this gardenia into a short tree form, called a topiary! Once it's done blooming, it will be getting a haircut.   Garden Art I love to add unique ceramic items to my flower beds. This cup/saucer is actually a small planter I picked up somewhere. The greenery is a succulent called "Chinese Stonecrop." It's hardy stuff and I like using it all sorts of places. It like ceramic pieces because they hold up well in the blazing sun, don't rust and can't be eaten by termites! I also like recycling regular mugs into garden art. This one is new. A friends Mom gave me this mug planter containing a begonia & palm houseplant, but the mug has no drainage and I keep my houseplants outside in summer, so I promptly replanted the two items into their own containers that do have drainage and added that mug here with C...