About two weeks ago when I finished all of my planting, I took the few left over plants and stuck them in a container with an Elephant Ears bulb. The Elephant Ears had been in a smaller container since late May. I just left them sitting on the ground near the hose. Elephant Ears need a LOT of water, so every day when I got the hose out I doused them. They take FOREVER to come up, but as you can see below, they finally have started. I have had these bulbs for years and they are never anything too spectacular. Right now, though, I think they look kind of nice.

Every Job Has Its Perks

At our hotel we have Randy, "The Cookie Man".

Randy is one of our guests who drives a truck for a cookie Company. He stays with us one night each week. Every now and then Randy drops off goodies for us. The frequency of the drop offs seems to coincide with the attractiveness of the Guest Service Reps. Whenever we have a young, good-looking lady at the desk, the cookies seem to appear quite often. This may only be my imagination, but about 6 months ago one of the really attractive ladies left and suddenly there were fewer and fewer cookie packages. About two months ago we hired a new young lady and now the treats have been appearing almost weekly.

Today he brought in two big boxes full of chocolate-covered Oreos, Chips Ahoy 'Candy Blasts' and bags of smoked almonds. Whatever the reason he chose to bestow these gifts, it was a nice treat at 2 in the afternoon when we are all getting a bit hungry. I ate a bag of almonds and brought the rest home for DH, who enjoys his sweets much more than I do.

We sure will miss that young woman when she goes back to college this fall!

I have a few coneflowers beginning to bloom. Can you see all the black-eyed Susan buds about to burst all around them? I should be in a sea of gold in about a week. I did not do much in the garden this weekend. On Saturday I worked a few hours in the morning, but today I did nothing but go out and take this picture. It rained all morning and is one of those "no energy" days, so I have been inside watching TLC, FOX News, a little of HGTV and net surfing.

Hummingbird Nest

I found this site today that features a hummer nest from the laying of the eggs, to the day the babies fly away. Very interesting!

http://community-2.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM/

Dare I Post this on a Gardening Blog?

I was just reading Sylvana's current post about sunflowers. She noted that few people seem to be growing them and she wondered if it was because they don't like them. It seemed that most of her commenters said they liked them but just had no luck growing them. That's me. I love sunflowers, but they just don't grow for me. So I have had to resort to big bunches of fake ones. As much as I love real flowers, sometimes the fakes just fill the need!

Gerbera Daisy

I do not have much luck with Gerbera daisies. I just love them, but they do not grow very well for me. They never really fill out nice and full like I want them to. But still I can't resist buying at least one every year. Even small, they are so bold and beautiful!

Radical Raspberry Coleus & Thomas Edison Dahlia

What a perfect combination of colors! I only wish I had planted them in the same container. I took a pic of them together so that next year I will remember to do a large planting with both of them.

A Toast to Gardeners Everywhere

I am feeling much better about the garden today. Things look better now that I have cut down most of the offending dying and flopping plants. I swept the debris off the deck, watered everything and moved a few containers around and now it looks just fine to me.

In fact I poured a glass of wine and relaxed on the bench and took it all in.

And then I poured a second glass........hmmmmmmm........maybe that is why it all looks so much better tonight!

I raise my glass to gardeners everywhere who are enduring the agonies of late July gardening. May we all remember:

"Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration." ~Lou Erickson

So Many Daylilies--So Little Time to Deadhead

I did not realize how many daylilies I have.

Unfortunately I can't remember the names of some of them. This peachy one with the pinky-red eye is one I like a lot.

I probably have at least 4 others that I did not take a picture of. I am very fond of daylilies.

Their only negative is that they last just one day and the spent flowers hanging all over the plant really detract from the overall appearance. I don't deadhead them every day as I just don't have the time to do so. If I was home every day, I probably would. It makes all the difference in the display.

I can't remember the name of this peach daylilly.

'El Desparado'- one of my favorites with its golden color and deep plum purple eye.

Charm Bracelet. This is the largest daylily I have. It is quite huge.

One of the following red lilies is 'fanfare'. I don't remember which one, though.

Then and Now

If you want to feel like you have really accomplished something, take pics of your container plants on the day of planting and then 2 months later. It always amazes me just how much they grow in such a short time.

There is one annual flower that I have never really liked -- marigolds. I don't really know why. My husband, on the other hand, says marigolds are his favorite flower. This year I decided to buy a flat and do my large planters on each side of the deck entrance. I picked a goldish orangey yellow color. Then I planted two more double planters in a complementary orange marigold with purple coleus. And guess what? I like this planting quite a bit! It is certainly better than the miniature sunflowers I planted from seed last year. They took months before they even bloomed and then they looked scraggly. Maybe I should listen to my husband more often...............lol.

It happens every year. Yet it still depresses my enthusiasm for gardening. Within a few days my garden goes from something I enjoy looking at to a big disheveled mess. The Shasta daisies die, the spiderwort flops, the white sedum and the feverfew turn brown, and the pink mallow starts its decline--all at the same time. I walk thru all the gardens and I can't find a thing that looks good.

Added to that is the mess I created when I dug out the orange lilies. I went out today to plant the cardinal flowers and as I was digging the hole, I uncovered more lily roots and obedient plant roots--tons of them. I dug for an hour and filled a wheelbarrow to overflowing. You just know I could not possibly have gotten them all, so I will probably have them popping up thru the new flowers I am planting. The two little plants I put in hardly make a dent in the big open space. So now I am stuck with a bare spot for the rest of the season. When will I learn to leave that shovel alone????

From past years, I know that this, too, shall pass. In about a week, there should be a flush of new blooms, and I will feel better about doing so much work in these crazy gardens.

Even the deck is not looking good. I moved things around again and I don't like it. The deck floor is cluttered with spent blooms from my deadheading spree. I don't feel like sweeping it all tonight, so I will just have to live with it for a few more days.

Here is a picture of the newly planted cardinal flower.

Expression Lilies

I did take one decent picture tonight. I have some new lilies blooming. They are in the same spot where the lollypops were. Quite by a stroke of luck I happened to plant a variety that blooms as soon as the lollypops finish. If I remember correctly they are called 'Expression'.

What are the Most Cheerful, Happy, Fun Flowers?

Zinnias!

I did 2 containers of these this year. This is my mixed color sled planter.

Pink zinnia wheelbarrow planter.