Are you tired of seeing garden pictures?
You're not?
[Oh, I do love you!]
You are?
[Sorry.]
I am tickled that this metal arch is finally filled with morning glory vines.
Very soon it will be a mass of deep purple blossoms.
You see, living in the northeast where we get about 6 months of color
and 6 months of grayness,
it is imperative that one immerse oneself in the color while it lives....
as all too soon it will be gone!
I became a favorite customer at a local Amish greenhouse this year,
as I "decorated" my vegetable garden
with a perimeter of perennials.
Though pricier than annuals, perennials are more bang for your buck.
They repopulate themselves, returning year after year like the best of old friends.
I am lucky, though, as our local greenhouses (because we are so rural)
run about half the price of greenhouses in suburbia.
The callouses on my hands should serve to prove my point,
as I have planted and planted and planted.
This year I am in love with Echinacea, or coneflower.
We commonly think of the purple coneflower,
but I have found both fancy and plain varieties that are pink...
yellow...
orange...
green (yes, green!)...
and red...
Just seeing all this color makes me swoon!
The melon vines are finally bearing fruit.
Cantaloupe...
And the tiniest two watermelon babies...
It's almost as if the garden has been touched by magic.
New babies appear each morning.
Lately, every time I go to the barn I am met with a ruckus of bird alarms.
A couple of barn swallows have built a nest in the rafters of the barn...
a nest which is now overflowing with adolescent birdlings.
Unfortunately, the presence of the barn cats keeps this Mama and Papa on high alert.
And when one of the barn cats ventures into the dry lot,
the nervous parents begin dive-bombing said cat.
You might notice that TomTom could care less that he is the object of this warning attack.
"Whatever...." he sighs as the birds dive to within inches of his head,
then soar back up to the wire above.
I swear it's a game, and the cats just enjoy annoying the heck out of the feathered Air Force!
Comments
Do you save your seeds from any of your flowers? We started last year with just a few plants (we are still currently living in a dreadful neighborhood) such as zinnias, herbs, sunflowers. This year we are saving tomato's, more flowers and more herbs. We also save a lot of wildflower seeds.
We also have a barn full of swallows. Our cats are used to them "dive bombing":)
xo Kris