Today's pictures part one

The pictures I posted earlier today were taken a few days ago, so I just now went out and took some "current" ones.

Here is our backyard patio area. The only shade we have is from the patio umbrella, unfortunately, so when it gets hot we have to wait until a bit later in the evening to enjoy being out here. Late evenings are wonderful, sitting at the table with an aperitif, tiki torches lit, and the stars above.


One section of the vegetable garden, showing our corn, tomatoes, and various squashes. Methinks the squash will soon overrun everything else, but that's all right. We like squash!

My ever-growing herb garden! You can see how the lemon balm (center) has filled up its spot in the rock ring. Everything is growing beautifully!

much rain

This is shaping up to be one of the rainiest Junes on record for Boise. It doesn't "feel" like summer, but it's been great for the garden. Things have been growing like crazy.
Elton and Kolchak in the back yard, our patio and "wall" of lilacs and vines along the chain link fence.

We have these little pink flowers in various spots around the front yard. They are perennials that come back every year but I have no idea what they are.

Our front doorway, with Japanese maple on the left and Oregon grape and "mystery plant" on the right. I severely trimmed back the "mystery plant" earlier this spring and it was like sticks; I thought I had killed it. Now it is so lush that I am going to have to cut it back to get into the front door.
Roses and flowering quince along the west side of the house; an area that is a bit neglected because we rarely go to that side of the yard.

Lavender is just beginning to turn bright purple!

The east front side of the yard, with Scotch pine, mullein, flowers. This big fluffy shrub is growing in our front yard.....






This morning, I've been out trimming the yarrow that is encroaching on the sidewalk. If I let it go much longer, it would have reached across to the "fluffy bush" and made the sidewalk impassable.

I also planted catnip seeds in my herb garden. I have some fennel also, but knowing how tall it gets, I must think about where I want it to grow.

We have blossoms on our tomato plants as of this morning (yay!) and all the squash are getting bigger each day. Elton is still harvesting strawberries and has replanted radishes in hopes of getting a second crop.

My herb garden is growing almost too well. The lemon balm, basil and dill have all taken off, and the little tarragon that looked so forlorn after I dropped it at the store has bounced back well.

After the rain

This morning I tackled the weeds in the garden along the west fence. Quite a job, but I had to get them out so that the various veggies in there can survive, and so we know what we have. I avoided one area; the calendula looks too much like cabbage and I need Elton to help me distinguish them.

I discovered that one of the peace roses has bloomed in the rose garden, and I am so happy. Peace roses are my favorite and I'm so glad we have them. Among all the roses, this is my favorite. The roses, however, are getting very leggy. They are sending up tall branches that
are all leaves, and I need to cut them back. Not sure if I should do this, so I'm going to consult some sources to find out if and/or how I need to go about it.

Also took a pic of the patio pots. There are lots of peppers, as you can see. The peas are probably a lost cause but I can't bear to pull them out just yet. The spinach has gone to seed and I'm hoping to use the bit of lettuce that is there before it does the same. Elton's radishes have been a success. They are beautiful, round, red, and spicy. He is thrilled.

Discoveries

I puttered around the yard and garden yesterday, and would have enjoyed it more had it not been so humid. We don't get much humidity here, so it affected me strongly. I have worked in the yard quite a lot, and never sweated like I did yesterday. Still, I managed to get some things done, and found a few surprises as I meandered around the yard.

These lovely pink flowers are blooming in front of the house. Snapdragons? I'm not sure. I bought some purple lobelia a few days ago and set them in a pot beside the front step. They should fill in and be beautiful there. I also moved my birthday gift pink azalea into a pot on the other side of the step. I have to keep it watered well, as it was quite droopy when I transplanted it, but after a good drink it perked right up.

I weeded one section of the vegetable garden, and now you can really see Elton's zucchini and corn, which have really taken off with the warm weather we've had. The tomotoes are growing and look very healthy. Elton's strawberries are beginning to turn red, and he plucked his first red radish from the patio planter yesterday. He said it was very spicy and good. As quickly as those radishes grew, I'm thinking that we can harvest these and plant more to get another crop.

The most surprising discovery I made was when I was weeding out near the sidewalk. I confess this is an area that is somewhat neglected, because it is filled in with mullein, yarrow, and other plants that don't require a lot of maintenance. I found a plant that I had not recognized before, but having planted a small sage herb in my herb garden, I certainly knew what it was now -- a nice big sage! I felt quite stupid that not only did I go out and buy one, but that this was there all along and I had no idea what it was.

And then.... I was watering the west side of the house, which I tend to forget about since it's not a traffic area and the shrubs there are largely self-maintaining: roses, flowering quince, mint. Near the back gate on that side I made an even more amazing discovery: another sage plant, this one very big, and in flower (see photo below). I was delighted and felt stupid all over again.

Elton set out cucumber plants and we cleaned out two more pots and he filled them with pepper plants. Our patio is quite full of lovely growing vegetables! The peas are flowering, but I believe the hot weather has probably been the death knell to them. My lettuce is going to seed after only one cutting. Ah well, I can plant more in the fall. The thai pepper plant is beginning to form buds. And my herb garden is thriving. I can see that the sage has grown, and the seeds I planted are beginning to sprout. The cilantro is doing particularly well.
I trimmed up the plants that grow along the sidewalk, as they were beginning to encroach. The yarrow, Oregon grape, and the big "mystery bush" that has delicate white flowers, all got a haircut. I watered the hens and chicks, and noticed that the yucca is sending up its shoots and will be flowering (I guess that's what you call it for yucca) soon.

We've noticed that the zucchini has been attacked by some sort of bug, the leaves have little holes in them. Interestingly, the one he planted near a sagebrush is untouched. I suspect that the pungent odor of the sagebrush drives away pests, and may be a good place to grow things. Just have to be sure not to plant them under it where they won't get any sun.