Heather's Garden

THERE'S STILL SOME COLOR OUT THERE

Our windows have been closed for days, but I'm adamantly opposed to turning on the heat.  It was a gloriously sunny day here in CT today, but I was stuck in the office all day only sneaking peeks of the blue sky and puffy clouds through my boss' window.  I did get out to the garden 2 days ago and I was so excited to see a new dahlia blooming (I neglected to see if there was a tag though so I have no idea what kind it is):

 

At least one of the tomato plants is thriving:

 

And an actual habanero changing color:

 

Very calendar-worthy in my opinion:

 

What do you think?

WORKING ON THE PHOTO FOR OCTOBER

There's a frost advisory for the northern portion of CT tonight, but we're supposed to be safe here on the shore.  That's small comfort with the temps making it feel more like late October than mid-September.  I harvested the first two Brandywine tomatoes today just in case.  There's a little zucchini on the vine (also the first of the season), but we'll just hope it doesn't freeze.  But that's not the subject of this post.  And this isn't a post for the squeamish amongst you.  The one abundant crop in my garden lately is spider webs and the spiders that build them:

A little spritz with the mist setting on the hose and they're visible to the eye (most of the time we're narrowing missing sticking a hand or face into them):

Though I don't think the spiders appreciate the fake rain:

Because while at first they look like this:

They quickly dry themselves off: 

The zinnias are finally blooming, just in time to be replaced by mums:

There are still bees on the dahlias, but they're slow and sluggish:

 

But they're still finding a good amount of pollen:

I've got a flat of mums to plant, but the next two days are supposed to be sunny and mid-70s, SS2 is home for the day, and we're hoping to get the shed finished before the leaves start to fall.  Those spider photos above are the leading candidates for October.  Any favorites?

SLOWLY BUT SURELY

I'm just digging out from under a pile of work, but I'm trying to get outside for at least a few minutes a day.  And it's paying off...potentially October's calendar photo:

I sprayed the web with the mist setting on the hose...pretty:

And slowly but surely the veggie garden is starting to produce.  Sunday's harvest included lots of beans (Royal Purple Bush beans, Kentucky Wonder beans, and French Filet beans), a cucumber (likely the last since the plant appears to be dead now), and 5 Green Zebra tomatoes:

Today's harvest yielded the first eggplant, the first 2 Black Russian tomatoes (the ones at 10 and 11 o'clock), a Brandywine Pink tomato, and a bunch of Perfect Plum tomatoes:

Yes, it's been slow to get started, and no it may not last for much longer, but for today at least, I'm quite pleased with my garden!

NOT THE PRETTIEST GARDEN EVER

Let me start with the good stuff though:

Did you see that Brandywine Pink tomato on the back left?  First one of the summer and it was as great as I remember them being last year.  VPH made me up this little plate for lunch on Friday -- chicken salad, potato salad, and a little dressed, sliced cucumber.  He apologizes to you for the presentation...he said had he known I would be photographing he would have arranged the cucumber nicely (and those are our own green beans in the potato salad):

The nasturtium twining around the tomato cage is one of my favorite things about the garden this summer.  It it's just lucky that the yellow ones ended up by the Green Zebra tomatoes:

Also pretty is this dahlia (whose name I can't remember and I'm too comfortable to get up and go outside to check):

But I'm not sure that either photo is calendar-worthy.  I was rather surprised when these peppers started turning red:

But they're not the only peppers in my garden at long last:

It looks like I might actually get some blooming zinnias this year:

And the lawn looks great (one upshot of so much rain):

The veggie garden should be a lot lusher than this, but from a distance it's not too bad:

In fact, even up close, parts of it aren't too bad, like the Perfect Plum tomatoes:

But the Black Russians are downright scary looking tomato trees:

 

The zucchini have plenty of male blossoms hiding under all those leaves (shot from behind the table for scale), but no female blossoms, and therefore no zukes: 

And I just found that it's covered in the dreaded larvae of the cucumber beetle:

Am I the only gardener in the world who can't grown zucchini?

WOULD IT SURPRISE YOU TO LEARN...

That I've only had to water the garden twice since I planted in May?  And I grow vegetables in containers?  Just another example of the crazy summer we're having (or not having depending on your point of view).  But amazingly I have sunflowers blooming:

Granted not even half of them came up and the only ones that seem to have made it are the little short ones, but they're sunflowers:

The last day-lilys that I saw bloom (there was one more bud, but I didn't get to see it bloom, darn work and volunteer responsibilities):

Staying in the patio garden, but moving on to veggies...zucchini -- large on left, extra small on right (in front of the light next to the bird bowl -- seriously, it's there), and not a single zuke growing:

And the eggplants may not get much larger than this, but I'll give them a few more days before I harvest one and let VPH eat it:

The cheating garden center tomato plant has pretty much done its job by giving us 10 or so tomatoes and it looks just about finished:

Just in time for the heirloom tomatoes to be ripening, starting with the 'Perfect Plum' (we've picked one, but haven't tried eating it yet):

Switching gears entirely, I'm loving the deep purples in this gorgeous container, but I can't get them to reproduce correctly in a photo:

Can you spot the absolutely terrifying sight in this photo:

The dreaded tobacco budworm (I found 2 on this plant and crushed them both):

But I spotted a much more interested insect in the garden a few minutes later...is it calendar-worthy: 

And then I saw the weirdest looking thing...turns out it's a plume moth...who knew?  Would be calendar-worthy if I did a vertical calendar:

Then this dragonfly insisted on having a photo session:

Seriously, it kept flying away and coming back.  Wow that's a face only a mother could love:

VPH likes the detailed shot of the wings below.  I think it's cool, but I don't know if I like it as much as the photo above:

 

What do you think?

PLEASE SEND AN ARK

Tuesday brought us three inches of rain according to my cracked rain gage.  Thursday another 2.5...again cracked rain gage.  Think it might be leaking?  This trash receptacle is at the roof line (no gutters on our rental home):

 

As I write this brief post we are in the middle of yet another set of thunderstorms complete with downpours.  We really don't need any more rain.  But this afternoon the sun was out and we enjoyed sitting in the sun relaxing.  At one point VPH called me to the patio.  "Come here!" he shouted.  "This spider's been busy."  I'm kind of amazed that I managed to get this pic considering the wind and sun:

 

Is it calendar-worthy?  Tomorrow is predicted to be a sunny day, but I'll be volunteering for a fundraiser for my local library.  Seriously, this is the strangest summer since I've been gardening.  I've only had to water twice and remember I'm growing almost everything in containers!

WHY WOULD I GO ON VACATION WHEN I CAN STAY HERE?

It almost goes without saying that I mean stay here and do nothing!  Which is pretty much what I did all weekend.  I did manage to take a bunch of photos though.  My beautiful Endless Summer hydrangea:

 

I'm sure you've noticed something's missing here:

We love having a huge vase of hydrangea blooms on the kitchen table:

 

The veggies benefited from almost a week of sun.  You read that correctly...a week of sun!  Of course, as I write this post we're in hour 12 of absolute non-stop rain.  The Kentucky Wonder beans on the trellis are exactly what I pictured when I planted them, well they're a little sparser than I thought they'd be, but maybe I'll plant a few more for a late crop once the rain stops:

 

Same with the Scarlet Runner beans:

 

I still haven't thinned the carrots, but I did pull a pretty big one and eat it (and yes, it was delicious):

 

My cheating tomato plant has given us a few tomatoes, but uh-oh, that doesn't look good:

I don't think it's late blight, but whatever it is, it isn't good:

And my last veggie photo...eggplant!   The Japanese eggplants are doing quite well.  In fact they're already about 3x the size they were in this photo:

The patio garden is making me so happy:

Especially the big yellow daylilies:

And at least one of the zucchini plants is flourishing:

 

The bee balm isn't blooming yet and I have to imagine it's because it's not getting enough sun, so I switched it with the dahlia that was on the little table:

 

But I am loving how this container is filling out:

 

Since the dahlias here are so tall I hope that the coleus will fill in down there:

 

But overall, I'm quite pleased with this portion of the garden:

 

I love photographing this container:

 

But I realize I hardly ever show you the other side of it:

 

My Mother's Day garden is looking great:

On Sunday we drained the little pool and rinsed it out (how does it get dirty so fast?), so to cool down while sitting in the sun I used the mist nozzle on the hose.  It was a little windy that day and a lot of the mist landed on this row of dahlias:

Photo op!  I think a bunch of these are calendar worthy.  My mother wants me to request opinions from readers on which photos should go into the calendar.  I suspect it's because she has something to say about it, but I will be a dutiful daughter and request that you readers comment on which of these photos you'd like to see in this year's calendar.  Number 1:

 

Number 2:

 

Number 3:

Number 4:

 

Number 5:

 

Number 6:

 

Please do let me know what you think!

ONLY A MONTH OR SO LATE

The rainy month of June put us behind on a lot of our garden chores and many of the plants behind in growth.  All I can say is we'd better have a mild fall to make up for it!  It took a while, but we've finished nearly all the garden chores and the plants are behind the norm, but catching up.  The hosta/azalea bed is done:

The hosta/rhododendron bed looks great:

He not only mulched, he made us dinner!  VPH and the perennial shade garden:

  

Yummy mustard glazed pork, grilled zucchini (wish we had our own zukes to eat), and brown rice:

 

The veggie garden on May 16th:

 

On July 9th:

Let me take you for a little tour...always left to right.  Bush beans, carrots, habaneros and Brandywine tomatoes:

Habanero, dahlia, lilac bell pepper, dahlia, lilac bell pepper:

Same lilac bell pepper, scarlet runner beans, carrots, habanero, carrots, Kentucky Wonder beans, purple bell pepper:

Black Russian tomatoes, bush beans, peppermint, lilac bell pepper, Perfect plum tomatoes, habaneros, and another dahlia:

The Green Zebra tomatoes are one of my favorite things in the garden right now.  They're so beautiful in their blue pots.  The planter table looks great too with Royal Purple bush beans, nasturtiums, and the one cucumber that survived the rain:

A close-up of the gazillion blossoms on the Royal Purple bush beans:

We have teeny tiny eggplants growing:

 

This nasturtium is blooming despite it's 2 relocations (note to self--a little grass seed here wouldn't be a bad thing): 

 

The marigolds are doing their job and attracting pollinators to the tomatoes on the gravel patio (calendar-worthy, no?): 

 

I think we'll have a daylily bloom on the other plant tomorrow.  I have this sneaking suspicion that it's yellow:

 

These are our old trash containers.  I hate to replace them, but both have gaping holes in the bottom and no longer do much in the way of holding trash or keeping the raccoons away from it.  Rubbermaid apparently would replace them (they're less 3 years old), but only if I had the receipt.  You'd better believe that I kept the receipt for the new ones.  We will drill more holes in these and use them for composting:

 

We're enjoying the garden and being able to spend time on simple maintenance like weeding rather than looking around and seeing all the things still undone.  We still have the shed project and a couple of other little things to do, but really, we're done.

OKAY, DON'T LAUGH

This is what happens when you ask your husband to plant while you're at the office.  Once I got home and we stood together staring at the 12 coleus plants in the ground, he said, "Yeah, it might have made sense to put the tall ones in back along the rocks and the short ones in front."  I added, "And maybe mixed up the colors a little?"  Well he's sweet to plant them regardless and they'll fill in soon.  Plus he mulched the whole bed, so really I'm not complaining:

 

Remember how it rained for June?  At some point during those weeks of rain, I decided that the sun would return and we would need a way to cool off.  But this is the summer of cheap and as you know we don't own this property.  4 years ago, before we started gardening, we asked the landlords if they had any objection to us putting up one of those big blue inflatable pools...they did, turns out their insurance premiums would have gone up.  Which is retrospect really worked out for the best.  We never would have started gardening if the yard was dominated by a big blue pool.  Do you see where I'm going with this:

 

Hey, it was only $20.12!  Though it's on clearance now for even less.  This is the sunniest part of our garden with full sun from about 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.  We put down a tarp we had on hand (luckily it was about the right size and blue) to try and protect the bottom of the pool since once the grass dies (sigh), there won't be much between the pool and the glass and rocks that seem to be the main components of our soil:

 

This is also about the flattest section of our garden, but it's still not level.  There will be a deep end of this pool.  I should stop calling it a pool.  The package called it an aqua lounger, which amused VPH to no end:

 

We also picked up a solar cover at a local overstock store for $33.  But even the smallest one they had was more than twice as large as needed, so we cut it in half and stored the rest for future use, so I'm only going to include $16.50 in the aqua lounger expenses.  (The directions for the solar cover recommended letting the cover sit for a few days to straighten out before you did the final trim to size and shape, lest you think we're just dumb.)  Another $7 got us a skimmer.  So that's a total of $43.62 -- well we already got an afternoon's amusement out of setting it up, in my mind that's money well spent.  VPH included in photo for scale:

 

I am so excited to see what color the daylilies on those tall stalks will be and still taking endless pleasure in the patio garden:

  

The Green Zebra tomatoes are definitely going to have the first ripe fruit, I'm just not sure how I'm going to know when it's ripe.  Lots of squeezing tomatoes I guess:  

  

The first beans are Burpee's Stringless Green Pod, though the Royal Purple Bush beans (not pictured) are running a close second:

 

See how much better the weather is (knock wood) -- basil that's not rotting: 

 

The mystery bush in a long weedy hedgerow on our evening walk:

 

We walked down to Dave & Dottie's house, which we do several times a week.  Remember them?  They gave me my first dahlias last year and serve as inspiration for all who pass by their home.  Walking by their garden these days smells like walking into a florist shop.  They have easily a hundred lilies blooming right now.  Their dahlias are all in, growing like crazy, carefully staked and labeled:

 

I love all the different types of hosta under the tree:

 

Some of the scads of lilies:

 

I don't know what this was (can anyone identify it? I remember seeing it on someone's blog not too long ago), but it was sharing space on an obelisk with a clematis.  Each bloom? seedhead? was about the size of a silver dollar.  Definitely calendar-worthy:

 

Nor do I have any idea what these Dr. Seuss-like plants were:

 

But the bees were loving them:

 

I have to go into the office on Thursday, so no time in the aqua-lounger for me, but VPH is going to complete the mulching and mow the lawn, so he said he might relax in it once he finishes if he and the weather are warm enough.  Remember, don't laugh!

I JUST CAN'T RESIST A SALE

Before I get started...this is the bush that I'm trying to identify.  I posted a close-up of the bloom the other day.  They're used as hedges all over our neighborhood and the blooms smell rather honeysuckle-like.  A little help, please:

Back to "I Just Can't Resist a Sale"...

But if I told you could get everything on the table and both chairs for a total of $24.34, could you?

 

VPH made chicken salad on Wednesday with some leftover grilled chicken (which had been seasoned with herbes de provence).  It was delicious (like all his food), but we both wished we had fresh tarragon on hand.  I know that at some point in the spring I asked him if we should grow tarragon and he said no, but I should have known better.  I also never got around to dividing the 2 eggplants and using the funky new box/planter for one of them (now that they're flowering I'm loathe to mess with them), so I had the brilliant idea of buying one of those nursery tomato plants with fruit already growing on them that I've been seeing all over the place (including the grocery store) so we could get a ripe tomato before August (even if I do agree with Carol that it's cheating).  I had a $15 certificate for Van Wilgens so off we went.  I used the $15 certificate to get tarragon, fernleaf dill, silver thyme, and fernleaf cilantro and paid $1.02 out of pocket (I know, I wouldn't normally pay $3.99 an herb plant either): 

You're wondering where the petunias and ornamental edible peppers came from?  The tomato plants at Van Wilgens that had fruit already were $25 each.  Well I may be crazy, but I'm not nuts enough to pay $25 for a tomato plant, so I passed and decided to go to Vaiuso.  I'm telling you, I love that place.  Remember the $1 perennial herbs I picked up there a few weeks ago?  Just about everything's a $1 now.  I got tired of waiting for this:

To look like this:

 

That's marigolds, coleus, parsley, and basil all $1/each.  I'll transplant my grown from seed tiny little plants into larger pots and see if they'll do anything for me, but like I said, I am tired of waiting.  Speaking of being tired of waiting I picked up this tomato plant for $8.  Yup, $8.  I love Vaiuso so much!  More on this tomato when I get it into a container:

 

I took a brief walking tour of the garden and found tiny little flowers just forming on the scarlet runner beans:

Then I sat down for a well-deserved hour reading.  Every now and again I looked up from my chair to the freshly mowed lawn, my humongous hydrangea, and blooming/nearly blooming dahlias: 

 

Then I'd look a little to the left and think about all the work we still have to do putting up the new shed, taking down the 2 old ones, a new project I'll tell you about soon, reorganizing everything...oh well back to my book:

 

Before I headed inside I did a photo session with a spider on the eggplant cage.  I can't decide which of these photos is more calendar-worthy.  A good close-up:

 

Or a more interesting composition:

 

Do let me know what you think.

IT'S AMAZING WHAT A FEW DAYS OF SUN WILL DO

I had a completely different post drafted with photos that I've taken over the past couple of days, but I went outside this afternoon and found such a different garden after 4 days of sun in a row (shh, don't jinx us) that I just had to start a fresh post.  My very first blooming day-lily (unnamed passalong from my friend Mary) in the patio garden:

 

The hydrangea is insane!  It's waist high and the blooms are bigger than my hand:

The Bay State Angel dahlia is blooming away:

 

And the Parkland Glow is about to pop:

The moonflowers suddenly decided to send out a scouting party:

Overnight one of my peppers was attacked, but I think it will survive:

 

The first heirloom tomato has set (and frankly I'm amazed given the June we had).  The winner of the race to first tomato is the Green Zebra, now the question is will it be the first ripe tomato:

 

The Kentucky Wonder beans are climbing the trellis quite nicely:

 

I hope I get a better spider photo at some point this summer because I don't think this one is quite calendar-worthy:

 

Now if I did a vertical calendar, I would consider this photo:

 

And who knew creeping jenny blooms?  Not me:

 

I'm loving this container...the colors, the textures:

 

I can't wait to see what a few more days of sun will bring!

A MARAUDER!

I walked outside on Friday afternoon, looked up at my container on the stump and gasped:

  

It was even worse up close.  What interloper would have the gall to dig up my hosta:

 

I replanted the hosta and filled in the other small holes.  I had clear plastic forks on hand and really hope they 1.) prevent any further attacks, and 2.) don't hurt any animals in the process:

 

You can't even see them from below:

I never tire of the fiddle-heads on the ferns.  Should I ever do a vertical calendar (doubtful) this would be calendar-worthy, I may even print and frame this pic I like it that much:

 

I suddenly realized on Friday morning that the tomatoes in the pretty blue pots by the fence on the side of the house weren't getting enough sun.  The sun hits the top of the fence around 9:30am, but doesn't get down to the bottom until nearly 11am and then the shadow from the house covers the whole side of the house by 2:30pm, so they had to move to the gravel patio. 

Friday afternoon we went out to Old Saybrook to visit Carole at Maynard Greenhouse.  After a pleasant but short vist (Carole was working and I had VPH in tow and he's not endlessly patient), we headed towards home with 2 Cherokee Purple tomato seedlings (you didn't think I could visit a greenhouse without buying something did you?).  We passed two Ocean State Job Lots on the way home, so of course we had to pop in to see what containers they had left.  Success! 

 

The two blue square ceramic containers on the ends were only $37 each.  Look at the size of the those things!  They each took 2 cubic feet of potting soil and a Cherokee Purple tomato:

 

I really like the splash of color they give the patio.  I asked VPH if he thought we should get a blue umbrella now.  He laughed and said we could put a white tablecloth on the table and celebrate the 4th of July all summer.  Note that the containers of beans are now inside the trellises:

 

The patio garden is growing like mad.  See the lupine in front?  I think it may actually flower.  The herb pots are all planted up now:

I love this photo.  If I had planted the cilantro and dill and taken this photo on Friday, I would have entered it into the GGW photo contest:

I have a feeling that variations of this angle will be a frequent subject this summer as the herbs fill in.  But I include another here so you can see all the herbs growing on the corner.  Back row left to right -- spearmint, basil, rosemary, lavender (goodwin creek); middle row left to right -- lavender (I gave this some fertilizer today, it has growth, but it's taking its sweet time to come back), fernleaf dill, lemon thyme; and at the front right -- cilantro (I picked up this pot on Friday too...hey at only $8 how could I not?):

And while I'm in the patio garden...the moonflowers are growing nicely with a new set of leaves and I was shocked to see the clematis growing down at the bottom of this photo (sorry it's out of focus), I thought for sure it was dead.  Now if I can just get it to grow towards the trellis:

We're still trying to get the grass to fill in before we put the chairs back in their normal spot, so for now we'll relax here:

 

The greenhouse went back into the basement today and the containers and furniture are in their rightful spots:

 

I'm quite pleased:

 

All of the dahlias are really taking off this year.  Small cages will go on each of these containers as soon as I can find 4 more:

This is essentially my to do list now.  The hose has to go on the fence so I can get running water to the vegetable garden, fresh mulch needs to go onto all the mulched areas, and the plants all have to be potted up (though I'm still not sure what to do with all the impatiens):

 

The new shed needs to be assembled and then the rest of the mess will be stored away out of sight.  We're close now.

WELL I STILL LIKE THEM

My photographs were not chosen.  A few stats for you:

172 photographers entered

49 photographers chosen

1073 photographs submitted

82 photographs will be hung

As I wrote to a friend earlier this evening, "It's a very arty show and my little flowers and bugs didn't move them."  And I'm in excellent company among the losers, several of whom have previously won 1st honors and been exhibited yearly for 15+ years.

I'm not heart-broken since I knew it was a long-shot.  However I will walk around the show on Friday evening looking for any photographs that aren't better than mine!

TAKING A DEEP BREATH AND GOING FOR IT

Much of my free time over the past month has been spent obsessing over the juried photography competition -- should I actually enter and if so, which photos?  I like my photos, I'm proud of them, but are they really art?  I finally decided that not submitting would be chickening out and I really had no excuse not to try.  It helped that the woman who runs the program emphasized repeatedly that the 3-person jury changes each year and some years the accepted works are predominantly color, some years black & white, sometimes edgy, and others softer and pictorial.  She's been surprised by some of the accepted works in the past and astonished by rejected ones -- bottom line not being accepted doesn't mean your work sucks. 

So that took a week.  Then I asked readers, friends, family, colleagues, and finally complete strangers which of the calendar photos I should enter.  I whittled the possibles down to 5 photos for a variety of reasons (why was I the only person who liked the bee on the white dahlia the best?):

 

I loaded all 5 onto a thumb-drive and threw myself on the mercy of 2 lovely gentlemen at the print shop.  I needed their advice on which 3 would print the best and at what size.  They invited me behind the counter and together we critiqued my work.  We all agreed that the rain covered dahlia (upper left above) was lovely, but quite ordinary -- it could have been snapped by anyone anywhere anytime.  We all liked the sunflower (upper right above), the color, shape, the perceived motion, but the blurry bee on the left detracted from the photo.  Then there were 3:

 

We're expecting yet another storm on Wednesday, so I won't be able to pick up the prints until Thursday -- $28.  Since they're an odd size (8 x1 0.5), I will be having 11 x 14 white mattes custom cut for them on Friday -- $50.  An artist portfolio to submit them in -- $15.79 (and a prayer that overstock.com delivers by Friday).  Entry fee -- $20.  Is it wrong that I keep thinking how many plants that would have purchased in the spring?  But I'll buy some inexpensive 11 x 14 frames next time Kohl's has a sale and if the photos aren't accepted or are accepted but don't sell there will be some new art in my living room.

Cross your fingers for me that it all comes together and this year the jury's into bugs and flowers!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hopefully everyone has opened their Christmas present by now, so I can share the calendar with you.

Cover:

 

January:

 

February:

 

March:

 

April:

 

May (taken in Layanee's garden):

 

June:

 

July:

 

August:

 

September:

 

October:

 

November:

 

December:

 

FAQs

Did you take all these photos?

Yes.

What kind of camera do you use?

Canon Powershot SD400 Digital ELPH (about 3.5 years old).

Do you Photoshop your photos?

No.  I used Picasa to punch up 1 or 2 of them using the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, but to be honest, I don't even remember which photos -- July for sure and I think maybe February, but I don't remember. 

Do you crop?

Not usually.  The dragonfly is cropped, as is the frog, and maybe the spider, but I think that's it.

How did you make the cover?

Picasa again.  It's really simple to create a collage and then insert text.  I can't express how easy it is to use.

These are all from your garden?

Yup, except for the frog which was in Layanee's pond.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

I hope you all enjoyed seeing this year's calendar, I sure had a lot of fun putting it together.  I'm going to enter 3 of the images in a photography competition.  Please let me know which you think I should use.  I'm pretty sure I know which 3 are my favorites, but if there's a groundswell of support for one that I haven't considered, I could enter 4!

Merry Christmas!

IS IT ANY LESS JOYFUL BECAUSE IT'S CHEAPER?

Some years the Christmas card list is short, oh who am I kidding?  Some years I haven't sent any at all.  This was one of those years where I bought a package of 20 cards, wrote up my list, made out all the cards, and then figured out that I had left off 3 very important people.  Guess who's going to buy a cheap box of cards tomorrow?  Ugh!

Tonight I spent a few hours writing out the cards and wrapping the calendars that I'm giving out.  We started out the evening watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (because who doesn't feel better about their holiday plans after watching that movie?) and I just kept wrapping and wrapping.  After the movie younger step-son (who is now living with us when he's not at college, which is a joy) started playing Halo.  So this year Christmas presents and WARTHOG! will be inextricably linked in my mind.

2008 finds us still celebrating Christmas, but in a much more conservative manner than last year.  The economic downturn hasn't directly impacted us, but having 2 kids in college at the same time has.  I've said several times to VPH this fall, "Thank goodness we have no money or we would have lost a bunch of it."  Long story short, last year we spent almost $70 on a living tree, a bunch more on a rosemary tree and a lovely poinsettia from the good nursery, and I forced bulbs all over the house.  This year we have a $15 fake tree and 2 poinsettias that were a total of $6.66 and that is it.  There isn't another plant in the house (other than one really old houseplant that we inherited from my mother-in-law years ago).

The view from the couch after I finished wrapping:

There are several items of note above:

1. The $15 Christmas tree...better than you thought, isn't it?

2. Younger step-son's feet...anyone surprised he's over 6 feet tall?

3. The Wii Fit in the gaming section of the entertainment center...one of these days I will get around to trying it.

4. Halo on the TV...you know you're jealous!

The calendars will be in tomorrow's outgoing mail so I should be able to share the final photos with you on Christmas day.  Until then, best wishes for sanity in this, the most stressful time of the year!

WERE THEY WORTHY?

Strangely, I haven't started forcing any bulbs this year.  In fact, I haven't even purchased any bulbs to force.  I'll have to see if there are any at Van Wilgen's when I go to buy our poinsettia tomorrow.  We're half way through decorating the house for Christmas.  I'll post soon about that and how our decorations, purchasing, and entertaining will be quite modest this year. 

But after much debate I have decided that it would be a shame to kill the calendar idea just because we have two kids in college and the economy has tanked.  I don't want to spoil the surprise for the lucky recipients of this year's Heather's Garden calendar, so I won't show you the cover and 12 month photos yet, but here's a collage of the 2008 photo finalists complete with the graphics used on the real cover (though not to size):

 

I will, of course, share the final product with you in due course. 

I have to confess that going to Florida for 10 days in November made us miss the prime garden clean-up weather and the snowy, blistery 15-27 degrees of the past 48 hours is making me think my chair cushions may stay out there all winter.  Anyone else hopelessly behind in clearing their leaves this year?

ODDS & ENDS

It's been a busy week for me with not much time for gardening or photographing the garden.  However I do have a bunch of shots leftover from the weekend.  Wondering if I'll get sunflower seeds or not:

I love the pollen and raindrops on the dahlia petals: 

This might be a calendar shot, but is it too creepy with the bee all wrapped up in the foreground? 

Too bad this is a portrait-oriented photo or it would be calendar-worthy.  I may enter a photography competition this winter though and it might be a good shot to use: 

 

The ivy is nicely taking over this section of the fence: 

I took this photo to show how all the rain was splitting my tomatoes for the first time this summer, but now looking at it, I'm proud of my dirty thumbnail: 

 

Obviously I found this spider endlessly fascinating to photograph: 

 

I'm going to have to get back into the garden, not just to come up with new posts (and plant those darn mums), but also to recharge after this long week and get ready for another busy social weekend.

CALENDAR-WORTHY?

Sunday was a beautiful day in the garden.  The bees were loving the sunflowers and so was I:

Now I need your help.  Which of the following photos is calendar-worthy?  Make sure to click on them to view full-size so you can make an informed decision.  Number 1:

Number 2:

Or Number 3:

  

I really need your opinions, readers!  Whereas I'm pretty sure this photo is calendar-worthy (I particularly like how the near petals are out of focus):

The rest of these photos have not been deemed calendar-worthy, but I thought you'd still enjoy seeing them.  I can't seem to stop shooting this dahlia (Hootenanny):

And these small eggs on the underside of a morning glory leaf begged to be photographed:

I thought you'd get a giggle out of how heavy the Brandywine Pink tomatoes are and how lazy a gardener I am for just letting the bent branches stay that way:

And lastly my Big Early Bell peppers are finally showing some color. Big, yes; Early, not so much:

Seriously, please tell me which of the sunflower shots is calendar-worthy.  I'm totally stuck.

BEE-TI-FUL DAY

I haven't figured out where to plant the bee balm that Layanee gave me yet, but I think something's wrong with it.  I'm thinking it shouldn't be covered in white spots.  I swear I didn't do anything to it.  I only cut off the spent blooms and put it on this table until I could decide where to plant it:

The rest of the bee theme is far better news:

It's just so much fun to take close-ups of bees on flowers:  

Now a few without bees.  The morning glories are both purple/blue and pink/dark pink: 

The pink flowers look so delicate:

Next year these towers will be planted with Kentucky Wonder beans and a second variety still to be chosen.  The morning glories will move to the trellis where the purple hyacinth beans currently reside -- more sun over there and beans can apparently take some shade: 

Which is not to say that I won't still find a spot for the purple hyacinth beans because they're too pretty not to grow:

   

Because I would really miss these flowers:

The red dahlia just keeps on pumping out the flowers:

And it looks like I may finally have a flower on this one in a few days:

Now, for the reason this post is titled Bee-ti-ful Day:

They're all over this dahlia plant: 

All kinds of bees:

Calendar worthy:

I was petrified I was going to get stung sticking the camera in that close, but definitely worth the fright.  Have you done anything dangerous to get a good photo in your garden lately? 

CALENDAR WORTHY

Slow weekend in the garden, which was exactly what VPH and I needed.  No real gardening being done, just harvesting and tidying up. 

First, as promised, a picture of the morning glory in bloom:

Which is difficult because all the blooms are above my head:

 Another climber that's making me happy these days is the purple hyacinth beans:

The dead cucumber was ripped out today and the other cucumber is not looking too good (after I took the photo I removed the bad leaves):

The zucchini still has beautiful male flowers, but no female flowers:

The volunteer tomato plant is blossoming:

The wildflower patch was so over-shadowing the dahlias in pots on the lily pad stepping stones that I decided to pull them out of there.  When VPH saw this micro-mini dahlia in the pretty pot sitting on the bar he said it was like we went out and bought a whole new plant.  I said just wait until it blooms:

Speaking of blooming...some of these guys are lagging behind:

Bet you're wondering where the calendar worthy shots are.  Wonder no more.  This one's good: 

This one's better: 

I think this one's the best: 

I was checking on the cherry tomato plants this morning when I spotted a really big bug on the sweet potato vine (aren't I nice to give you a box so you can see it?):

Is it a katydid?  It's really pretty: 

And this one is definitely calendar worthy:

Isn't it funny that I just said I haven't seen many butterflies and then poof there's a monarch on the zinnias.  I just love that last photo of the mystery bug.  I think I'll go make it my wallpaper now.

NORTHEASTERN SPRING FLING (and it only took us 4 months to pull it off)

Layanee and I have been trying to get together for months and months and more months.  We were going to meet up at Logee's twice, but I had to cancel both times.  The last scheduled trip was in early April and in my post about it I coined the term Northeastern Spring Fling.  (Layanee's plans to attend Spring Fling were foiled by the airlines and mine by the dire state of my finances.)  Ironically in that same post I announced my grand intention to attend Gardenwalk Buffalo which also didn't happen this year due to both step-sons in college and the high price of gas.  Well at least I finally got to see the ledge of Ledge and Gardens today! 

Layanee's not kidding when she says that she lives out in the country, but she gives excellent directions.  I was a little nervous going down the dirt road (not many of those in my usual haunts), but I turned into her driveway and there was the unique home and beautiful gardens that I've come to know from her blog.  I wasn't, however, prepared for how large it is.  Photos just don't do her garden justice.  Layanee's actually in this photo:

Turning in any direction brings more astonishing beauty: 

Tucker is an exceptionally well-behaved dog.  Usually dogs instantly pick up on the fact that I'm not so fond of them and want to be my best friend.  Tucker said hi and then wandered off.  I used to think that Layanee had him well trained to sit so still for all those photos, but he's just that kind of dog:

Equally patient and well-behaved was VPH.  He and I were only about 30 minutes from Layanee's house on other business today, so he got dragged along for our visit.  He even joined us on part of the garden tour and rescued a frog from the pool (well 2 actually, but I only saw one, I was busy coveting Layanee's tomato cages when he scooped out the other):

You know how I have a good number of frog statues in my garden?  Today I saw a real live frog for every statue I have:

That one's a pretty decent candidate for the calendar, but so is this one:

Right after I took this photo the frog croaked at me and I think I actually caught air when I jumped.   

Northeastern Spring Fling must be commemorated by a group photo (Heather on the left, Layanee on the right):

And the exchanging of gifts (bee balm from Layanee on the left, woolly thyme from Heather on the right):

Another shot of the beautiful bee balm:

This was about the time that a frog jumped over Layanee's foot and she mentioned snakes.  I have to admit that I started to watch where I was stepping a little more carefully.  She sent VPH and I out the door with some other gifts (really she's too nice), and directions to cut a few highway exits off the trip home. 

As we drove away VPH said, "It's strange to meet someone for the first time and have them know so much about me already."  I explained that it was only because Layanee and I have talked on the phone, the whole internet doesn't know that much about him.  The other amusing exclamation was, "That's a garden?  10 acres -- That's a f---ing estate!"  I guess I could have prepped him better.  Thanks again, Layanee, that was the perfect relaxing cap to a crazy busy week and I can't wait to come visit again!

SO CLOSE I CAN ALMOST TASTE IT

It's getting to be that time of year again.  Pillows are being dusted off, reviews written, nervous gardeners are watching birds, weather reports, and pacing back in forth in anticipation.  It's tomato time!  It looks like Early Girl is going to win in our garden:

I've already had a taste of summer with the 2 cherry tomato plants we're growing.  I am plucking about 5-6 tomatoes a day off of the Sweet 100 (and inserting them directly into my mouth), but this Husky cherry tomato is promising a nice little harvest tomorrow:

I've seen some amusing stories about first tomatoes, but this is the first time I've seen a First Tomato Road Trip (I may have suggested that Virescent bring that almost ripe tomato on vacation with her and let it sun ripen a bit, but she's the creative one who came up with the road trip slideshow). 

In other veggie news, we have the first Red Peter pepper growing (you think the eggplants have been phallic -- wait for these!):

I'm still trying to figure out how I will be able to tell that the purple bell peppers are ripe: 

The zinnias are helping to bring pollinators to the garden -- and they're pretty: 

I love how they're all slightly different: 

I caught this tiny little bee in action: 

I had about 50 of these shots and narrowed it down to 2 photos.  I think one or the other is a strong calendar candidate: 

I finally figured out what this is:

I wandered out to the patio last night around 8:00pm and saw the plants in full bloom.  One quick Google for night blooming yellow flower and I came up with Evening primrose: 

It's hard to capture these flowers at this time of night without the flash, but this is as close as I can get to true color (and not a blurry mess):

It's been insanely hot non-stop and we haven't had more than a sprinkle of rain in weeks.  Thank goodness VPH doesn't mind watering.  Any bets on when that Early Girl tomato will be ready to eat?  I'm taking the 25th.

AND THE WINNER IS...

Do you think maybe I should end this contest while the winner can still use the first page of the calendar?  Sorry for not posting much these past few weeks -- life, work, and volunteering have really cut into my blogging time.

So I'm a complete idiot.  I should have looked back at my archives before giving the clue because I was completely wrong.  I didn't post the two photos on the same day, not even in the same week!  But strictly speaking, Layanee used the horrible clue I gave to come up with the only possible answer that that clue would supply. 

Did that make any sense?  The answer was May and July.  Layanee, even though you said March and May -- YOU WIN!  I'll send you an email so you can give me your mailing address and I promise I'll put your prize in the mail ASAP.

Thanks everyone who posted a guess, if I had more calendars I would send one to you all.

Incidentially, our hotel this weekend was walking distance to the Chicago Botanic Garden, but I think even the geekiest gardener would agree that 0 to 20 degrees before the windshield is just a little too chilly for a visit.  Hopefully one of these days we'll decide to visit Chicago (and my sister) during a month that is not January.

UPDATED: HAPPY NEW YEAR

Since no one has guessed correctly, though one person got very close, I'll give you a hint.  The photos in question were taken in August and I'll bet with a little combing through the archives you could figure out which they are.  Another hint -- the rose is not one of them.  I guess we'll see who really wants this calendar! 

Pardon my lack of posts, but I've been spending my evenings making calls for Hillary to Nevada.  So if you live in Nevada and get a call from a woman who says, "Hi, this is Heather from Hillary Clinton's campaign, how are you this evening?" give me a special garden hello.

_______________________________

In this post on September 28th I said I was holding back one photo from the incredible Monarch visit because it was the leading candidate for our Christmas card.  Predictably I changed my mind.  I started thinking about what I wanted to give all my friends and family for Christmas this year and I had a sudden epiphany...a calendar -- a calendar full of photos of my garden.

So I started combing through my photos and took a wonderful trip down memory lane.  VPH and I had much more fun with our first garden than we ever could have imagined.  Actually, VPH had a lot more fun than he thought he would, I made him do a lot of the hard work (heavy lifting, digging, watering, etc.) so I was pretty sure I'd have a good time!

This Happy New Year post is so late because I've been waiting until all my friends and family to open their gifts, lest their surprise be ruined by checking in here.  The photo that I held back in September became the cover of the calendar (printed by cafepress.com -- I was quite pleased with the quality of the calendars and the price).  You'll remember seeing many of the photos before.

Cover:

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Now for something fun -- a contest!  I have one calendar left and want to give it away to a reader.  There are two instances of photos taken on the same day.  The cover and December photos were both taken on September 26th.  Two of the other photos were taken on the same day earlier in the summer.  The first person to correctly identify both of the other photos wins the calendar.  Just leave your response in the comments and then I'll email the winner directly.

Good luck!