What happened to my kohlrabi? Or Look at those peas!

As you can see I am finding it difficult to post only 1 photo on some days.
I hope you don't mind.

The kohlrabi started out looking like this, a tiny bud was forming.

~

Awhile later I come back (weeks maybe!?) and it looks

like that!

Did I water it too much?

This is the bed it is growing in. Yes that is supposed to be

a vegetable bed but the violas have taken over.

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What would you do? Remove all the flowers?

There are sweet peas in there also, which by the way

have given me a nice harvest for the entire summer.

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Does that tell you what an odd year we've had?

Sweet  peas all summer!!!!

The peas are growing along the edge, it looks as though the

flowers are crowding them.

This photo was taken Tuesday,
the peas have produced quite well all summer.

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It's surprising anything is growing in most of the garden beds,
I added aged horse manure.
 At least I thought it had aged long enough.
It was full of sawdust and just maybe

it was too hot.
 Most of my seeds wouldn't sprout, about a 1/4

of all the seeds I planted in those

beds actually sprouted. 

The peas are just now starting to have some die off.
Next year I am hoping to grow more as we really enjoyed eating them.

Ha ha, I'd better grow more, I ate most of them in the garden.

~
Sugar Snap Peas.

YUM!

Oh Honeybee!

Today I was out in the late afteroon and found all

types of bees all over the place.

I had to be careful where I stepped and I was buzzed

a few times
~
This little bugger was coated in pollen., I find him/her

to be adorable.
Are bees boys or girls or both?

Sweet Pea In A New Color For Me

This is the color of sweet pea that I always grow.

I try seeds for other colors but this is pretty much it.

~

Until this 1 pale purple popped up.

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Ahhh, thank you sweet peas!

Bindweed, when I first saw it I thought Oh! How pretty!
~
Oh gosh what a nasty weed to deal with but I am thankful

there is none in my yard (should I knock on wood).

A butterfly visit!

We really don't get many butterflies in this area, and very few

varities in my actual yard!
~
I think this is a Skipper?!

I was on my way out of the yard when I snapped this picture, no thought

went into taking it, just a snap!
~
Suddenly I see little legs in there, who is it?

Chamomile looking cute as a button!

This photo is just for fun!
~
The chamomile just is so pretty like this.

Goatsbeard

I have been really pleased with how well this Goatsbeard is doing in this spot.
~
It's a rather dry semi-shady spot, almost crowded
~
I thought it needed a considerable amount of moisture?

Sunny African Daisy

African daisy is sold each year in most garden centers but

did you know they are easy to grow from seed?

Wow what a color!

A memory planter

It is hard to admit things in life don't always go
 quite how we'd like them to.
My Mom and I were hoping to meet last fall, it would have

been the first time in my adult life.

She passed away before that could happen, 

this past Monday was a year.

This planter is for her, my oldest sister let me know what some of

our Mom's favorite plants were.

Hen n Chicks were on the list and I truly enjoy them myself.

Maybe this is an odd planting, I don't know.

It was what I needed.

Calendula is a flower I have loved since I first saw it and

while the scent strikes me as different I love it also.

~

While it's a beatiful flower it is also a wonderful

medicinal plant used mainly for skin care.



Paper Mushroom

Online you can find all kinds of things, Spore Project is one such thing.

~

Here is how the Spore Project describes what they are doing:

the SPORE Project is an awareness program to support creativity and art education by constructing and placing mushrooms made from paper lunch bags. developed in 2005, the SPORE Project expanded into a world wide effort  to spread the message of the importance of creativity. thousands of paper bag mushrooms have been constructed and planted by hundreds of people around the world.
as of may 2011, mushrooms have been planted in every continent of the world.
this project is ongoing…

A FULL Planter

A small barrel type planter, I usually over plant with just nastutriums,

I figured why not add other plants and just 1 nastutrium this time! 

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As usual it's over-planted!

Nasturtium looking cheery.

Sweetly scented.

The sign, gift from my daughter.

~

 The yellow flower back there is African Daisy.

Yum, Fresh Strawberries

For once I harvested a strawberry before the dogs got to it!

We have some beds we put in, the berries went in this spring so I wasn't

really expecting much from them. Now they are putting out berries

and runners, I thought it would be one or the other but not both.
~

Next spring this area will need fencing to keep the dogs out,

if it can flop over or they can eat through it - they will.

One of the buggers caught red footed - oh well there aren't any ripe

ones just yet anyways.

The chamomile is a good thing to plant next to anything, at least

it is in my book!

~~~~~~~~~

Since I took these pictures other berries ripened and both of the dogs

got in there and ate them ALL!!!!
Time to fence it in, which  doesn't always work

as the older dog manages to get through most of it.

Garden Art - Mom's Garden

A gift from my oldest and his wife.

~

 Yes it cracked but that's alright as I am slightly cracked! 

My new foxglove

I was at a big box store looking for plant bargains,

there's this empty basket under the tree that needed a new plant.

This isn't exactly what I was looking for but

I fell in love with the color and it was under $3.00!

The tag doesn't tell me which type it is, the foliage is more strap like

then the other foxgloves I grow.

I am hoping for seeds!

Foxglove blooming away

I took a ridiculous amount of pictures of this foxglove,

no way could I pick just one to show you.

~

These 2 close ups have a slight difference, they were taken a few

days apart which made me realize the spots get darker with age.

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Thank you for stopping by and commenting, we've been
quite busy with family and friends.
Thank you for all the visits, now to finish the cleanup!
~

Beautiful Hollyhocks

One of the nice things about going for a bike ride

is seeing all the neighbors plants.

Beautiful hollyhocks growing through the grasses

around the corner and down the street.

~

I didn't realize there are so many varieties of 

hollyhock until I found Swallowtail Garden Seeds!

Lots of stunners and I need new seeds now.

~

I will be quite busy with family coming to visit and a big ole
BBQ while they are here.
If you don't hear from me for a bit, this is why!
See you soon.

More Poppies!

More poppies! 

The rudbeckia are really popping this summer also.

~

I will be quite busy with family coming to visit and a big ole
BBQ while they are here.
If you don't hear from me for a bit, this is why!
See you soon.

Cutie Weed!!!

This is a close up of the weed that stole the show yesterday.

It is a cutie so I don't stress too much.

~
Oh wait a second, there are lots and lots of seeds following that cutie.

~

I will be quite busy with family coming to visit and a big ole
BBQ while they are here.
If you don't hear from me for a bit, this is why!
See you soon.

A weed steals the show

This photo makes me chuckle, right in the center of the

coreopsis is a weed! A tiny pink flower but a weed all the same.

Those flowers produce quite a bit of seed, they turn into fluff and

float through my gardens, replanting themselves all over.
~
How do you control weeds in your flower beds and garden beds?
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Hand pulling? Chemicals? Natural methods?
Mulching?
~
I find no one of them is the answer alone.
~
I will be quite busy with family coming to visit and a big ole
BBQ while they are here.
If you don't hear from me for a bit, this is why!
See you soon.

Bachelor buttons and Bees

The bachelor buttons are rather popular with the various bees,

they are so busy they ignore me.
~

There is another pollinator that won't let me takes it's picture. 

I will have to be stealthy to get it I'm thinking. 

~
I will be quite busy with family coming to visit and a big ole
BBQ while they are here.
If you don't hear from me for a bit, this is why!
See you soon.

What Am I?

This was blooming away in the middle of June in Seattle.

What do you think it may be, I think it's a 

Sea Fig - Ice Plant - Carpobrotus 

Poppies

There are sooooo very many photos of poppies on my computer,

I'm quite certain it is an overload. I just can't help it, everyone looks different

then the one yesterday and I just keep taking more and more!
~
The pinks have quickly become my favorite this summer. 

Honeybee and Yarrow

Hope you all like the bees in the picture, there have been so many

lately I can't help but capture them.
~
Always happy to see a honeybee.