Gardening

I love to see things growning. Particularly if they are beautiful volunteers. Don't ask what they all are. I can't remember what all I planted last year.

This may be bachelor's button? There are only a few of these.

A good part of the front bed is full of these.

Some are very light pink, but others, like this one, are somewhat darker.

They have this neat little x coming out of the center.

These are on the far right side of the same bed.

*I've done some checking and I think this is coreopsis. I did plant that last year.

Beautiful

I know this one. I love hollyhock.

They're biennals, so I've waited quite awhile to see them bloom, unfortunately they have contracted hollyhock rust and will need to be removed. You can see some of the spots on the leaf to the left.

Such promise, but I'm afraid if I don't remove the ones in the front yard it will spread to the ones in the backyard.  These are single blooms, which I prefer; the ones in the back are double blooms. I'm sure they'll be beautiful too. I just have to wait a bit longer for them to bloom because they are in a spot that gets more shade.

The lemon balm thrived last year after I moved it to the shady side of the deck. It overwintered well and it looks as though I'll have to keep my eye on it this year if I don't want it to take over the bed on that side.

The sage did fine over the winter as well and is now starting to bloom.

And finally, the parsley. We used it several times during the course of the winter, but have stopped since it has bolted and is beginning to flower.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the beginning of several umbrells.

Here's one of the larger ones. By the looks of all the clusters that are already starting to form, we will have a lot of parsley seed.

As you can see, I'm a bit of a lazy gardener. My somewhat indolent attitude is due in part to the long growing season. Once the hot sets in, it's here forever. So for me, I never seem to feel a rush to get the things in the ground. I know I'll regret that one day when we have freak freeze in September, but it can't be helped this year since nothing is planted yet. We'll probably get around to it later this week. I would like to wait and put one of the beds of green beans in much later though. I've heard from someone I know that they have successfully done late plantings of green beans as far out as July, but it probably depends on the type of bean.