Gardening, anyone?

Lookforward

TwoHobbies a picture of Sangria would be a wonderful addition to a warm humid summer day.

We have had heat, humidity and lots of rain, not anywhere as hot as some of you have been experiencing . My garden is getting very overgrown and I need to do some pruning, especially the tomato plants some of the plants are 4 ft tall and are bearing very little fruit.

Lookforward

Blessings2011

Jazzy - yep! Definitely sangria and chips and salsa, and a boatload of friends to dress up your nice table and chairs!

TwoHobbies - we're in for a cold snap! Only 95 this coming weekend... get out the jackets!!! LOL Also, maybe you could change the color of your cushions with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I went to a workshop and saw upholstered furniture that had been painted and waxed. It was smooth and supple, not like what you'd imagine painted fabric to feel like. You can Google tutorials.

TwoHobbies

Blessings, I had never heard of painting upholstery, but I googled it and wow, it seems like that would be the easiest solution since the cushions are still good, just fading. Thanks for the idea.

Lookingforward your garden looks healthy and very happy.

Teka

Lookforward,

I also had to remove suckers from the 3 grape tomato plants in the vegetable garden!

My annual flowers blooming in planter boxes.

magiclight

The sweltering summer heat has taken its toll on my garden and with my recent addition of a puppy, am spending lots of time keeping remaining plants out of his mouth

I do, however, enjoy seeing everyone's summer gardens. Keep those pics coming and I'll keep enjoying vicariously.

Teka

A puppy would be rough on plants! ;o))

Lucy55

Teka... Your garden looks very pretty :-)

We found this piece of driftwood at the beach this morning.. Bought it home, added some broms and shells, and it's found a happy spot in the garden !!!

Lookforward

Lucy you are very artistic, looks great

Scottiemom11

Love it Lucy. . .I need some garden magic. . .too hot right now and too many skeeters.

Scottie

Jazzygirl

Magiclight- my gardens much the same. Some of the hardier surviving planted pots tanked more plants this week Things are starting to cool down meaning 80s vs. 90s to 100 as it has been all summer, so I plan to plant some cooler weather items soon. My seedums are looking like they are ready to bloom and excited for those!

Would love a photo of new puppy!

Scottiemom11

My anniversary roses. . .dh and I are also going to the Botanical Gardens tommorow. I love photographing them.

Scottie

Teka

Lucy, the piece of driftwood with broms and shells is an excellent addition to the garden!

Scottie, lovely anniversary roses, and enjoy the Botanical Gardens. Looking forward to pics!

Jazzy, last night thunderstorms moved in for the weekend. I'm enjoying the cooler weather!

I was able to finish weeding the 3 flower beds, rhubarb bed and vegetable garden in July. A long cold spring and wasn't done in June. I'm lame all over from weeding. (

We continue to enjoy scallions and now grape tomatoes from the vegetable garden.

I love the tall plume poppies!

Lookforward

Scottie lovely anniversary flowers, enjoy your outing.

Jazzy it must be difficult gardening in a hot dry climate,

Teka I have never grown plume poopies, they would be a nice August addition.

My almost 4 ft tall Lilly, I will be moving it in the fall, not in the best spot now.

Lookforward

Scarlet runners overtaking my porch swing.

Jazzygirl

Hi friends, well, the past few years we have had wetter summers with the El Ninjo wet cycle plus summer monsoon rains. This year, the whole thing has been a bust, although we have had some more moisture lately. Earlier this week there was much rain. The gardens are doing okay, with the drip and sprinklers, but the pots well, most of them are about done or dwindling even with regular watering.

But alas there are always things that thrive. The bottom photo is a great hanging purslane that I got at Lowes for $5 back in June, and that is doing well. I got another purslane that is in the ground and had incredible blooms this year and making a note in my gardening file that these are big winner is this climate. My first year getting these and they seem to be a sort of succulent that does well. I will bring the hanging plant in for the winter and hope other will make it through but may pull that out and winter it indoors.

Also a picture of my backyard seedum (autumn harvest I think?) that is mauve colored and one of my favorites in the yard. This is quite budded out and looks like it will begin turning color soon. I have one out front that is a grape purple color and may bloom first, think it went last year in August. I love having some late season bloomers in the garden.

I have started eyeing more mums for a few smaller pots and thinking of getting some of those in a few more weeks as things cool down. Gardens will remain in bloom here until around the end of October when the first hard freeze will come.

Teka

Lookforward, so many lovely flowers. You seem to enjoy shades of orange, pink and red. ;o)
Jazzy, yes, save the 2 purslane plants over the winter. )

We enjoyed an abundance of delicious tame blueberries from the 7 bushes going through slow death from witch-broom disease.

Lookforward

Teka your blueberries look delicious. We have saskatoons bushes, I don't know if you have them in your area. They are abundant on the prairies, they are meatier and seedier than blueberries. Mine have been hit by some blight and we had no berries this year.

Wren44

Lookforward, The city was passing out trees and my neighbors got a service berry. It's another name for saskatoon berry. It's trained to be a small tree.

Lookforward

Wren you are right about the service berries (saskatoons) being small trees, that is what mine are.

Lookforward

I have been housebound because of surgery and we decided to go for a ride outside of the city . I am sorry I didn't take pictures, but the farmers wheat fields were beautiful. I understand why people want to live in the country , we stopped by a small lake and it was so peaceful and quiet, and I was only 25 minutes from my house

Wren44

Lookie, Sorry you've been housebound. That's no fun. We drove thru an area around Hood River that raises wheat and hay and thought it was very beautiful too. I kept taking photos trying to capture the color because it would look great in my living room. Hope you're up and about soon.

Jazzygirl

Hi friends- we are getting quite the storms this week, so the moisture is good for us but some scary lightening and street flooding around. My sedums are about ready to do their thing, I see color on the buds now!

Lookingforward- when I was a young person, we used to take my grandfather every Sunday after our family dinner together for a "ride in the country". I lived in a quasi suburban- farming town in southern Connecticut and we would ride around looking at flowers, fields of hay, or corn or other things. Sometimes down the main drag in town too to see what had changed. For a young person who could not drive like me and an older person like my grandfather who could no longer drive, such a thrill to have those Sunday rides. As I learned when home bound after a couple major surgeries a few years ago, also a happy ride for those that are recovering to be able to get out and look at something beside the tube or the four walls. Your time out sounded lovely!

TwoHobbies

My parents loved to go for country rides too. I still feel the stress evaporate when I get out in the country and I only live in the suburbs! luckily we do have a lot of forest preserves and nature trails near me.

My neighbors maple tree is starting to turn red! Yikes autumn is on the way despite my denial.

If anyone has a picture of a serviceberry I would like to see one This is supposed to be a good native tree/shrub for my area and I need something small.

Teka blueberries are my favorite but we dont have good soil here for them. I am envious.

Lookforward

Twohobbies here are two pictures one of the berries and the other of the tree in spring.

Lookforward

Jazzygirl

Lucy55

Lookforward ..what beautiful photos !! Those berries look wonderful !

Jazzy ..your photo is like a little ray of sunshine !!

Here's a photo of my new little arrangement ..such fun putting it together .I just love succulents and cacti ...,😘

TwoHobbies

Thanks , Lookforward That serviceberry looks like a winner for my spot!

Pretty color, Jazzy

Lucy i

I love your pot of succulents I love them too So many different colots and shapes and easy to care for

Jazzygirl

Hi ladies- that bloom was a geranium that just came back to life along with a few other things in the pot with the cooler weather and rain. I looked over while on the patio a few days ago and saw the way the sun was shining on that bloom and grabbed the phone to snap that picture. It came out far better than I could have expected!

Thank you for the kind words!

Nice pot Lucy! I am a fan of plants in pots!