New garden pics

fabulous sunflowers!

Jory hasn't been here most of the summer. So I was afraid he wouldnt' see his sunflower before it was over, but we were lucky and he came just in time. He looked at it, the biggest one in the yard and said "Are you proud of me Nana?" "My sunflower is HUGE". I told him I was. I would have loved to have zinnias and I truly miss my choleus, but it is a belt tightening year and I had to work with what I had for the most part. If you have children and full sun , and you can only get a couple packets of seed, I thought we did all right. THey enjoyed growing something, I always find it a miracle, just like seeing something born, even tho you know it happens every day in every way, being a part of the process makes it seem like magic. At least to me. I put morning glories at the base of one group and they have made it to the top, so we will have some bright blue for Sept, and many of the sunflowers will keep blooming because this year I did stagger the planting. But nothing else really thrilling. Aiden's folks got a new place to live on a very large flat piece of land so he will really get to grow a pumpkin next year. I will have to show him the tricks my grandfather taught me on how to grow a BIGUN.

My super heroes are short, wear capes, and are happy in my garden. Aiden used his super powers to plant three little plants and arranged his magic circle for an hour.

spider pic warning for all the spider haters..me personally, find them endlessly fascinating. This one made a fabulous leap but missed his bug. Go my little plant police force. I applaud the job you do. so...
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= for those that think the are all kinds of cool..without further ado..go spider go.

Will work for food

In a couple weeks I will be able to go out in the morning and see a silver palace here and here and here and here.

Haha Jory is catching grasshoppers with a butterfly net in my garden and turning them loose in the vacant field. New kid game :rofl1: and he loves it.

end of spider pics...go predators go..but I know not everyone appriciates them the way I do. No roundup here. No pesticide at all. Loads of praying mantis however. My cute wee litel babies have all grown up. And skinks..and greys tree frogs and toads and more!

Hello to you 2

OK, knew I didn't want to look at spider but looked - ewwwwww:yikes:

I like the flowers better!!!!

sorry. i thougtht the spider was pretty. Without the spiders you woudln't have the flowers. Someone would have eaten them all up!

I love Aiden in his cape--what a great superhero!
And spider--loved that too--I am fascinated by spiders--so cool!

he worked a long time to get the pic I posted above..this is the beginning. vid

Looks like you have a future landscaper on your hands.

]They are everywhere. THere were four on this pot when I went for my camera but 3 were scared and hopped away. YOU have to look where you step out there. You ought to hear them at night.

lIFE in the jungle

Hello and goodbye, beginning and end.

I love your garden pictures! I didn't have the umph to plant a big vegetable and herb garden this year, and the crazy weather we've had has been rough on my perennials as well. Just when all the flowers seemed to be overcoming their early summer beatings from Mother Nature, we had another gnarly storm last week that dumped golf ball sized hail on us for a decent little stretch. My poor battered flowers! Yours are beautiful though, and I love the pictures of your little helpers and the wildlife. You've got your own little Eden there!

I hear you and it is such a shame when that happens. WE had a devestating drought last summer, all of Missouri was just terrible. That was why the groundhogs came up, not just for food but mostly for water. ALl I could do was water just enough to not go broke, but keep them alive for this year. Now we have so much rain it's rediculous. Hosta doesnt' hold up well to hail either. Makes mine looks like someone opened up and shot them up.

My own little Eden. I like that a lot. If I have to leave here because the building is falling apart it will be a real shame. I love the woods and I love having my garden back right up to them. Fingers crossed that they sell the building and the new owner will do something right because I really don't want to go. This is year 3, and the garden is just coming into it's own. I have moved things around to where they will do better and as always totally curious as to how it will look next year. If the weather permits.

Today we put in a lily pad pool.

I am so glad my garden has one of these and I am glad it is in the spot it is in. IT is lovely to look up up up at all of the trees and hear all of the wood sounds. It is quite noisy right now with late summer insects, and this could be called the year of the tree frog. They are everywhere.

vid

Hyia goes out and stands on it and swings. I confess I take the phone out when I call my Mom and sit there too. I have to readjust it each time for the babies. Thank you Gg for the big thick rope and the old swing seat, even if I did have to hammer on the metal and use wire cutters before I could get it off the old rusted chain. I saw a swing seat and rope advertised in a magazine for 200 plus dollars, My son has a nice swing right in front of his door. They cant' do what they can do on mine, because it is a long board but they can still get pushed by Mommy and Daddy. I found a very nice infant swing seat like they have at the play parks for 15 dollars at a garage sale. I got it so I could give them a house warming present. It was like brand new. I was thinking for Baylee and the coming baby but looks like she might not be needing it. She hangs on just fine and she is proud of it. I just love this pic to pieces. http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e331/smkie/AUGUST 2013/CIMG0043_zpsdf077559.jpg

Smkie, I can hear the joy in you voice talking to Aiden on the swing. I'm so glad he and Baylee have you in their lives to teach them so much, especially how to enjoy the simple things in life away from computers, etc... The new baby is going to love you just as much.

Baylee was helping me make that video. She was watching the screen when I said that, standing in front of me, waiting her turn. Even when they are not here, the swing in the back of my flower garden makes me smile. THat rubber runner took care of Aiden's "scared of the mud" issue. He doens't like to walk on it and one day that was what he said. My neighbor threw it out, and I was more than happy to ask for it. The other small rubber pieces that someone else threw out, not big enough to use together for what they were intended, not enough of them, i mean to say, but are rocking awesome for choking out poison ivy where it pops up, or killing off the grass and weeds until I can get mulch to improve the poor soil where I hope to plant things next year. I move them around, they don't show much so are not ugly. I sometimes put the potted plants arranged over them so it visually fills in. I haven't tried the boiling water on roots of poison ivy yet, where it grows in front of the ravine, and because I don't want the dogs over there, and I sure as heck don't want babies running over the edge I cut the honey locust limbs and pile them up over it, and then let the good stuff grow in front of that. Keeps the feral cats out too. Only one of two good things I will ever say about honey locust, the blooms smell like heaven and apparently are quite tasty to deer and ground hogs who climb up to eat them, but those thorns are pure evil, and they send out runners when they are dyng, a whol forest will grow from one sick tree, really fast too. Faster than the grass and weeds grow. I heard that sheep are the only really good way to control the take over. How they chew it up, I have no idea. I cut those limbs and put them in front of Hyia's ground level bedroom window too to keep a neighbor that was being a peeping tom away as well. Him and his dog he let crap directly under her window. Sure fixed that problem. I have let that purple phlox and the bach buttons take over that little area, and am thinking of something dense to plant in front of her window next year. I thought I might run a trellis of morning glories. I did gourds once, but they are too musky to put in front of a window. I have four oclocks in front of the others. Best scent ever on a night breeze and doesnt' draw flies or bees too close. The sunflower I have in teh back is going to have to go. Too many bees too close to the front door. It's a shame because it is blooming quite nicely.

Now that they have finally actually fixed some things here I am almost hopeful for next year. I have been working ont his area a little, I think it has a lot of potential. I would like to clear out and keep short the tall grass, clear out the sparse underbush and think it would be a very nice place for a table and chairs. It's just about level at one point, and there is a drop off, not life threatening, but steep, so that you are looking into the top of the trees below. With a little love, it might be a fine place to go sketch or watch tbe view. All I want is one cheap wooden picnic table.like they have at the valley park. Too fancy and ti would be stolen. A bat house near by would take care of the mosquito issue and since Hyia and I removed a lot of the trash and it has finally dried out, that issue is better anyway. Last week they would have sucked you dry and left your husk to blow about in the wind.

This is directly behind my shade garden, behind the swing and wood pile.
IF you want to hear the gold finches sing their praises for fresh sunflower seed, this is the second reason I plant them. I love times a bazillion having them sing like this while I am out there. vid for sound.