Gardening, anyone?

Thanks, jazzy girl. We have had great gardening weather - we had a fairly dry May and June, but in July we had quite a few rainstorms, so everything is green and lush. It has finally gotten into the 80s for daytime high temps - we've had some Canadian weather coming down. You are right about winter here - it is LONG and BRUTAL. We have a 6 month winter, and the other 3 seasons crammed into the other 6 months. It does make one appreciate summer.

still recovering from last chemo so haven't been out much in the garden. Finally managed a short period with a thorough watering. Couldn't resist this reward for myself:

Flavia - can i move in too

Hope you are feeling better jackbirdie!!

hugs to all, love the flower show.

Delphinium - love the fake bees in delphs !

To all the avid gardeners: holds hands out to heart-warming flowers and gardens! Stlll trying to figure out to upload some of my own! A bit overgrown, because of the surgeries (not all cancer) in the past year, but a place of calm for me as I'm sure yours are for you.

No pond here but I love going to the garden center that has a koi pond in the gift shop and snack bar area. One day they kept following me as I walked the length of their area. My friend pointed out that I had on a red shirt which is what the employees who feed them wear. Poor disappointed koi.

We have a small pond that we dug in a field that has a spring in it. No liner. In late summer with dry weather it can dry up, so no fish. I do have some water lilies and a wonderful population of frogs and tadpoles. I've also planted around the perimeter: daylillies, comfrey, mint, lupines, helianthus, black raspberries, iris, and some wildflowers.

OOhh love all the photos. Thanks for sharing. Delphinium and hostas.. oohh so lovely. Our garden isn't anywhere near as lush as yours Monis.. too hot and dry here. I have been too tired to weed. I will yank the heck out of the forgetmeknots neck year because they suffocated some of my favorite perienniels. Bummer.

Jazzy I am amazed at the amount of water you folks are getting. Is it breaking records? It must be.

I've never see that flower either--perfectly amazing. Is that the choke we usually find all nicely tucked inside the artichoke?

I don't think I can grow artichoke it in my climate. Last year I got some seeds, planted them in the garden and they were growing nicely. I knew that frost would come before they would have a chance to flower, so I put a couple of them in pots and brought them in the house. They died :-(

The ones that I wintered over in the garden died too :-(

Scarlet runner beans for the hummingbirds

rudebeckia

Flavia, How much land do you have? I would love to be able to plant big chunks of things. We have a normal city lot and it's just crammed. Room in front for 2 chairs and a little more in the back. Our deck is so full of flowers we never use it for sitting. We've had bee balm before but I think ours was blue.

We do get hummers in western mass. Just the ruby throated kind. They come when the daffodils are almost done blooming, and leave in september.

we have about 100 acres of land. A gardener's paradise :-)

FlaviaRose, you can't be far from me, so when I saw your glorious bee balms (one of my favorites), I ran to the window, hoping to see the same. Nope. Just a little red beginning to show on the buds. Rats.

My early hummingbirds love the flowering quince. My early blossoms are pretty much gone, summer beauties just getting ready. My hybrid purple loosestrife (not invasive like the wild kind) is just beginning to show gorgeous purple spikes. I have banks of orange daylilies in full glory. I also have fancy daylilies, but, truth to tell, while their blossoms are more beautiful, I prefer the everyday orange guys with their tall, slender stalks--far more graceful.