Hypertufa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertufa

More friends!

I'm not sure yet what kind of bee this is yet, but he was wounded and died soon after our meeting.


Beautiful monarch butterfly caterpillar munching away on the butterfly weed.


Again, not sure what kind of moth this is, but he loved the agastache.

Spicy Gazpacho

This is my gazpacho I made the other week. Mmmmm. I am calling it Spicy Gazpacho despite the fact that it wasn't really that spicy. Next time I'll have to add more peppers. Regardless, it was the best gazpacho I ever made. My resources included Ina Garten's recipe from one of her cookbooks and about ten other recipes I looked at online. I was inspired to make this by my neighbor, who left me the roma and unidentified tomatoes and a container of her gazpacho before going on vacation.

2 roma tomatoes
2 big girl tomatoes (just picked - still warm!)
1 large unidentified tomato
10 tommy toe tomatoes
2 small red onions
1 jalapeno (NEED MORE!)
1 green pepper
3 lemon cukes (2 processed, 1 diced and added later)
Process; transfer to bowl
couple slices sourdough bread soaked in water
couple cloves garlic (forgot in first part)
1/4 cup olive oil
Process and combine with previously processed ingredients
salt & pepper

Tricyrtis

Toadlily

I want that one!

Last Friday, my parents and I visited the Burpee's Fordhook Farm in Downingtown, PA for their Fordhook in Bloom event. The cicadas were buzzing, the sun was beating down, the thermometer was pushing 100 degrees and the gardens were dazzling. It was quite a surreal little expedition; everything else felt very distant. Equipped with maps and plant lists, we wound our way through each garden, every turn revealing another perfectly composed image. Needless to say, by the end of our tour, my lists were pretty well marked up with ideas for my garden.
After this overload of botanical inspiration and in the face of a plant sale of quality cultivars, I managed to procure a magnificent speciman... the most beautiful thyme plant I've ever seen in my life. Hmmm.

Lilium Scheherazade

This is my baby. I've had her for 6 years, having originally planted her in my parents' garden. I divided her and moved her here to my garden last fall. Mine is a little smaller here; the one at my parents' is over 6 feet tall.

Back Garden - One Month Later

It certainly looked much neater one month ago, but my crazy veggies had other plans. The Tommy Toes tomato had to be restaked three times, having outgrown the poles. My final pole is two stakes nailed together and 9 feet long. Tommy is now 9 feet tall. He's not getting another stake. My Purple Podded Pole beans threatened to topple over and had to be reenforced, and the melons are slowly creeping toward the lawn. Out of control!

Monarda

Wildlife

The National Wildlife Federation has a certification process wherein any yard may be designated a Backyard Wildlife Habitat. The only requirement I am lacking is a water source (We're in the research and design phase of that right now).

I am getting visitors sucking and chomping on all the food sources I have to offer.

Back Garden

Crown Princess Margareta

June 21

June 22

June 23

June 24

June 25 6:00am

June 25 6:00pm

June 26

Veggie Garden

My raised bed contains 4 tomatoes - Tommy Toes, Big Girls and something else, 7 peppers - 2 jalapenos, 2 cayennes, another hot and 2 black Hungarians, lettuce, melons, purple podded pole beans, and basil. All in 32 square feet.

South Garden

Before:





















This is the only part of my yard that gets full sun. This year I decided to maximize my planting potential and till out part of the lawn. I'm not that interested in grass anyway, as can be seen in the rest of the yard. The little birds really liked the bare dirt and this was the place to be for dust baths until we put in the raised bed.
These pictures were taken May 20.







After:

These pictures were taken today around 6:00. I'm particularly proud of the happy compost pile in the back corner. I would like it to finish doing what it does, but more green matter keeps appearing on top of it. And now that it's completely surrounded by plants, I can't attend to it properly. Once again this year it's sprouting gourd plants, camouflaging its indecency.

Fordhook Open - Spring Planting Event

http://www.heronswood.com/email/2007_05_open.html

It's this Friday and Saturday, May 18 and 19. I'm really hoping I'll be able to go on Saturday.

I would also love to know what the purple flower is on the invitation. A friend of mine said it might be a hydrangea. It does look like it has shrub attributes.

My friend was correct - it is a hydrangea. It is Izu No Hana and can be found in the Heronswood catalog.

Early Spring Pictures

Lily of the valley from my mom.
Tarragon and lavender.

Moneyplant from a former colleague.

Hosta from my neighbor.

Hops (Nugget nectar?)

Lilium Scheherazade.



Fargesia rufus Green Panda, hostas, sweet woodruff.

Aquilegia.

My boyfriend gets a little exasperated when I insist that he looks at every little bit of green that pops out of the ground.