Bees a Buzzin’

The other day, as I was walking through the garden checking on how things were holding up in this heat, I was suddenly surrounded by the hum of many, many bees. I was standing on the path in the flower garden that goes under the arch. The Purple Coneflowers are on one side and the Raspberry Wine Monarda are on the other side, along with a few coneflowers. I was literally surrounded by what seemed to be at least a hundred of those black and yellow bees. No honey bees, unfortunately. Don’t see many of those anymore. I tried to get some pictures, but the bees were so busy flitting about it was a bit difficult to capture the moment. Can you spot the bees?

With all the bees that I come across in the garden, I have never been stung by one. I mind my own business and they mind theirs and that seems to work out ok for all of us.

Through the Window

We have three birdhouses attached to the shed/workshop. We can see these through the windows in the family room. We have a kitchen table and chairs right by the window and often watch the birds at the birdhouses. Seems like there are always babies in at least one of them. Right now the babies are in the far left birdhouse. I took these pictures through the window, so they’re not great, but it shows the kind of activity we get to watch on a daily basis through the window. I wish I knew more about birds so that I could say what kind these are, but I don’t.

Baby birds waiting to be fed.

Mommy bird feeding baby birds.

Mommy bird taking  break and watching me suspiciously.

Better let them get back to their dinner. (No, technically those aren’t Christmas lights that we forgot to bring in. We leave little white lights on the shed year round....although, they’re kind of falling off there by the birdhouses because the birds like to sit on them.)

Front Yard, Front Porch, and Back Steps

This is obviously my day to play catch-up on my blog! I took these shots a couple of weeks ago.

The Endless Summer Hydrangea in the front yard has been absolutely gorgeous this year. And soooooo blue! I feel like it was more purplish / lavender last year. The acidity of the soil must have changed in this spot. You can see my hanging Dragon Wing Begonia here, too. I like to use them in my hanging baskets because they do better than anything else I’ve tried on my mostly shady front porch.

Endless Summer Hydrangea and hanging Dragon Wing Begonia.

Endless Summer Hydrangea in the front yard.

I had to move my small pot of succulents from the front steps to the porch because of all the rain we were getting. It was drowning! The Coleus on the right is called Kong Mosaic. It’s a showy one with really large leaves. I have at least three different types of begonias in this shot, some variegated ivy and some Goldfinger Sweet Potato Vine.

Front porch plants.

A fern, more begonias, etc...I should be better at keeping track of these things! The flowering plant in the bottom center is Holanda Justicia – I know that much!

Front porch plants.

The steps to the back porch is a hot spot, so there’s some heat-loving plants here. Mostly different types of succulents, plus the big shallow bowls of bog and carnivorous plants.

Plants on the back porch steps.

Lots of herbs near the back porch for easy accessibility: Germander, Chives, Lemon Balm, and Mint (with a purple clematis on the trellis).

Germander, Chives, Lemon Balm, and Mint.

On the other side of the back porch steps are some more herbs, like rosemary, thyme, and sage, along with Green Velvet Boxwood, an iris and a “box” of succulents. Oh look, there’s Molly on the screened in back porch.

Herbs and such.

The Kitchen Garden in June...yes, June...

I posted my June flower garden pics, now it’s time for June veggie garden pics.

The kitchen garden as seen from the right back corner of the yard.

There were successes and there were failures, as always, however, I am still so happy I made this area of raised beds for my veggies (and some herbs). Starting from seed using row covers in this area has been very successful.

The kitchen garden as seen from the left back corner of the yard.

I only wish the neighbor would finish the gosh-darn fence so I wouldn’t have to look at his broken-down boat that sits there all the time.

The kitchen garden.

The greens have done especially well this year because we’ve had rain/thunderstorms almost every day for the past several weeks. I always wondered why my greens tasted bitter, then I read that they require a certain amount of water per week to keep them from being bitter. They must have gotten plenty of water because they have tasted great. I haven’t even had to put the sprinklers on for weeks.

Gourmet leaf mix, Bibb lettuce, and Romaine.

Squash and cilantro. This was taken before the cilantro bolted. No squash yet, but I’m sure there will be plenty soon.

Squash and cilantro.

Turnips, turnips, turnips! First year I ever planted them and they went to town!

Turnips and nasturtium.

We had lots of radishes in June. The cucumbers started to show up the end of June and they have been really delicious. Great addition to salads.

Cucumbers, nasturtium, radishes and tomato.

This bed was and still is looking pretty sad. My beets barely did much at all this year. My Gomphrena seeds didn’t do anything and even the nasturtium weren’t too happy in this bed. Come to think of it, the pole lima beans, sweet peppers, and Fairy Tale Eggplant aren’t looking very productive here either. I’m wondering if this bed is getting too much shade or maybe I need to add more compost to boost the soil.

Where are the beets????

Some cilantro reseeded itself in this bed from last year.  My Rainbow Swiss Chard isn’t doing as well as it did last year, but it’s ok. The Summer Savory is kinda weak here and the Table Queen Acorn Squash I planted is non-existent now. The Chervil seems to be doing ok, and so are the pole green beans.

Cilantro, Swiss Chard, Pole Green Beans and Chervil.

This bed has parsley, hot peppers, radishes, nasturtium, a tomato, and the turnips (which you can’t see in this shot.)

Parley, Hot Peppers, Radishes, Nasturtium, and Tomato.

I have three lavender bushes in the kitchen garden (used to have four, but one died due to too much shade). The lavender looked great in June, but now it’s not looking as healthy. I think it may be due to all the rain we have had.

Lavender.

The two u-shaped beds have the lavender, cosmos, sweet basil, garlic chives and sorrel. I never had sorrel before and I LOVE it in salads. It adds a nice “bite” to the salad.

Lavender, Cosmos, Sorrel, Sweet Basil and Garlic Chives.

A favorite plant that edges the kitchen garden – Heliopsis Summer Nights. Started to bloom in June and is a powerhouse of flowers right now. I don’t remember noticing the hairy bits on the stems before – check that out!

Heliopsis Summer Nights.

We planted this blackberry bush several years ago, before the kitchen garden was even there. It’s looking so healthy this year and has TONS of little berries forming. I hope this actually forms mature berries and we can eat them before the birds do. How exciting!

Blackberry bush.

Flower Garden in June

Well, here I go again, posting pictures of the garden a month late. Sigh...can’t seem to keep up.

The roses and catmint were the star of the show in early-mid June.

Flower garden in early-mid June.

Pink roses and small white/light pink roses.

We had lots of rain and thunderstorms in June. The roses took a beating.

Pink roses after some rain.

These roses really ARE this bright. The thorns on this bush are treacherous.

Magenta roses.

I never had delphinium come back for me until I moved here. They return every year now. Here they are just starting to bloom. You can see the Smokebush behind them. Last year I was worried my Smokebush wouldn’t survive, but thankfully it did and seems plenty healthy right now.

Delphinium and Smokebush.

The hydrangeas were blooming...and still are.

Hydrangea.

Pink hydrangea.

Purple hydrangea.

Purple hyrangea with daisies and delphinium in background.

The daisies showed their happy faces in June and I’m still enjoying them now.

Shasta daisies.

Then the purple coneflowers started to bloom. Not long after, the goldfinches arrived to eat the seed heads. I feel like they showed up early this year. I spotted two males and two females not long after they started to bloom.

Purple coneflower.

Purple coneflowers.

The Purple Coneflowers and Raspberry Wine Monarda attract the bees.

Purple coneflowers, monarda, and blue hydrangea.

Monarda and purple coneflowers in the flower garden.

This was taken from the kitchen garden looking towards the flower garden and shed/workshop.

The flower garden in June.

Due to my elbow issues, I have yet to finish this area behind the flower garden. I’m working on it slowly. There are some transplanted hostas, along with Christmas ferns, some Fanal Red Astilbe, and a rhododendron.

Behind the flower garden.

I added some Coreopsis Sunfire to the area on the left side of the yard that was cleared out last year. I felt like I needed more yellow in the yard and I love the dark red centers.

Coreopsis Sunfire.

I’ve been working on this shady area that is part of the left side of the yard that was cleared out last year. I added Variegated Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum ‘Variegatum’), Foamflower Sugar and Spice (Tiarella), and Rose Queen Bishop’s Hat (Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Rose Queen’) to this area.

Shady area near the kitchen garden.

So that was June. My goal is to actually post July pictures IN July! I think that was my goal for June, though, and I failed miserably.