Making me Happy - June

Jack is so interested in outer space these days. Fortunately, we've got lots of space books, and we've gotten some videos from the library. I also came across these posters at art.com:


The vegetable garden in May:

The vegetable garden in June:

Spring Flowers

Flowering quince and a hydrangea waiting to be planted.

The pea shoots are coming up. We planted pansies this weekend.

Let's Talk Gardening

The seed and plant catalogs are coming in this month and we've been enjoying leafing through them and planning our 2009 garden. The Thompson and Morgan catalog has lots of gorgeous sweet peas, including my favorite - the lovely Rosemary Verey. This seed is an exception to the rule that mixes are generally awful - all the colors are gorgeous and you always get a few of each.

Jung Seeds is offering semi-dwarf Honeycrisp apple trees. I am outspoken in my love for the Honeycrisp apple. It is extremely seasonal - October is its month. Apple trees need a pollinator, so we'll put this close to our pink-flowering crabapple. That will be quite a sight in the spring!

We are having a baby in May, so the tomatoes and peppers will go in as plants - I can't grow as many varieties this way, but it does make our lives easier. Generally I plant Brandywine, a nice old-timey heirloom variety that is usually available as plants at the nursery.
I had a mad passion for zucchini, mostly made into zucchini pancakes, last summer, and as I didn't grow any myself, I traded my millions of cucumbers for them. This year, I am planting zukes.

My husband is planning a garden expansion, so we'll have more room for:
basil
lemon basil
dill
tomatoes
zucchini
cucumbers
nasturtiums
marigolds
peas
cranberry beans
swiss chard

In the lower beds for herbs and fruit we have 5 blackberry (or perhaps raspberry, we'll see this summer) bushes, 9 strawberry plants (which need bird netting), tarragon, rosemary, sage, lavender, lemon thyme, thyme, parsley and oregano. The parsley was a volunteer that came in the same pot as the strawberries and grows very happily in their bed, too.

Vancouver BC travels - Gardens

If you love gardens and flowers, Vancouver in the summer is the place to be. There are lots of community gardens where the plots are gorgeous, flowers and veggies just tumbling over one another. Queen Elizabeth Park and Stanley Park have immaculate formal gardens.

Someone's front yard.

Community garden under the Skytrain rails

This garden also had a neat mural of veggies.

Planting in front of old city hall.

Someone's street-side garden.

Garden patio on Bowen Island

Small Quarry Garden, Queen Elizabeth Park

Small Quarry Garden, Queen Elizabeth Park

Queen Elizabeth Park

Queen Elizabeth Park

Stanley Park Rose Garden

Cucumber Heaven

Sally likes to lounge on the couch and watch Squirrel TV

This is her view. We had the world's most hideous blinds in this room (to go with the ugly carpet), and I recently took them down and started putting up curtains. They're expensive, so I'm doing one window at a time. The curtains are from Target, the rods are from PB Teen and I sewed a band of pale blue silk to the bottom of each panel.

Our first cucumber!

Climbing Joseph's Coat rose with lots of buds. I had to spray the roses for Japanese Beetle - we'll see if they perk up now. I love that climbing habit; I'm hoping to cover the whole front of the house with climbing roses.

renegade morning glory. They come up every year, and are trying to get into the garage.

Begonias in hanging pot.

Trellis & Pretty Clothes

I went searching for pea trellis and tomato cages this weekend, and couldn't find either. But I did find these pretty bamboo arches for the cucumbers:


And for those hot days and nights, some pretty little things:



Old Navy Lace-trim Top

Gap Dotted sash dress

Urban Outfitters Porcelain Rose Earrings

July Home and Garden

July is a lush time here in West Virginia, especially this year as we've had a lot of rain. Our garden is in a series of terraces and raised beds that my husband built last spring. We have a small herb garden (thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, sage, French tarragon, oregano, dill, parsley, cilantro, lavender and basil).

In the bottom beds we have blackberries, peas, sweet peas, and 9 strawberry plants. In the main bed we have cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, marigolds and nasturtiums. The cucumbers definately get the "Most Rabid Growers" award this year. As you can see, they are mixing with the nasturtiums and having a big ol' time.

In front of the house, we took out a dreadful, half-dead evergreen and put in a rose garden (my husband did promise me a rose garden). It will be a few years before we get the full effect. There is a nice mixture of climbing roses and standard.

Here is the table set for three for dinner, with a bouquet of hydrangeas from the front yard.

When we were married, the bouquets had hydrangeas from my mother-in-law's yard, so they are very dear flowers to me, reminding me both of our wedding day and of my mother-in-law, whom I loved very much and who died this last October of breast cancer, far too young.

Flowers

We've put a lot of time and effort into our garden this year. We've taken out some plants we didn't like (holly with those prickly leaves! and a sick-looking evergreen) and planted LOTS of roses. I am afraid I have a weakness for roses, even with their drawbacks - diseases, insects, short blooming time.

I really like to arrange flowers, especially ones I've grown myself.