My favorite Vase

      As a child, this little vase was always my favorite.   I don’t know anything about its history, was it always mine, or did it belong to my mom first?   It’s hard not having her here to ask.   I do know that I remember it being in my bedroom as a child, filled with summer flowers from my mom’s garden.  These days, I have to google all the flowers I put in any vase, just to make sure they are not poisenous, because my cat Rikki will eat anything.

katydid and corn

I originally thought this was a grasshopper, but when I googled the image, I found out that it is a bush cricket , commonly known as a katydid.  
Here is the link to the Wikipedia page on katydids.   If the picture of the corn looks disorienting, it is because I turned it sideways, so that you can get a better look at the katydid.

Daisies

My friend and neighbor Jean gave me a pot of Daisies from her garden a few years back. They established themselves right away and I now have transplanted several patches from the original.

The name Daisy is derived from “day’s eye”, due to this flower’s resemblance to the sun. The yellow disk in the middle is the sun and the petals are rays the of light that surround it.

More on Astilbe

Astilbe is one of the easiest perennials to grow as they can tolerate full shade to full sun. They do like a lot of water, especially when you are trying to establish the root system of a new planting.

Also known as feather flower, they are a long flowering perennial that will attract bees and butterflies

Lupine in bloom

My neighbor Jean gave me a package of lupine seeds that I planted over a year ago.   By the end of last summer I had a green leafy plant but no flowers.

Below is the first flower I have seen. I know the picture is a little confusing because this garden is getting pretty wild, but it is the stalk in the middle with the two tone little pink flowers

Earlier this summer I posted an entry about my mother-in law’s garden. She had many Lupines in bloom. Look here if you want to revisit it!

Vegetables and Day Lillies

My vegetable garden resides right next to a patch of orange day lillies, in my front yard.  You can see them peeking through, behind the corn.

Late last Spring, I bought a packet of seeds that contained indian corn, beans and squash. It was called The Native American Three Sisters Garden. The Idea is that these three plants complement each other and are beneficial to each other in the garden.

Do you see how the squash vine has wrapped itself around the corn stalk?

I’ll let you know how well it works.

Astilbe Bee

Maybee I’m blogging too many bees?

Accidental Planting

A few years ago, I had a section of overgrown Vinca vine in one of my gardens that I didn’t want.   So I yanked it up and dumped it by the edge of woods.

I never realized that it would take root, thrive and actually look pretty.