This morning I decided to bag some blossoms. I used bridal tulle circles to cover the blossoms. A bagged blossom. The clothespins are holding the "bags" together and their weight is supported by clipping them over the cages. I will remove the bags once I see tomatoes forming.
Fused tomato stems on my Lucky Cross tomato plant.
Copra and Red Zeppelin onions starting to bulb up.
Reliance Grapes
Blueray Blueberry
Newly expanded front garden. The entire middle portion was grass in the beginning of the season. Now it is filled with marigolds, dwarf sunflowers, lots of carrots, and other assorted annuals as fillers.
Scarlet Oklahoma Red Zinnia
Jacob Kline Monarda
Purple Coneflower

Spirit pumpkin. I've never had one so healthy, so long. SVBs have always been a huge problem. This is a more compact cultivar.Golden Acre cabbage starting to form a head.Florence fennel. A volunteer. Note the black swallowtail caterpillar in the upper portion. He's already about an inch and a half long!
One of my three Sungold tomatoes started blossoming a few days ago. I can't wait for these tasty nuggets!
Sweet Basil planted last season. It overwintered and is now starting to flower. It came in a gift herb kit. I never harvested any of it, so I'm hoping the beneficials will like it. That's why it's still hanging around. Peas are planted on both sides of it. You can see my Spirit Pumpkin in the back left.
Below are my tomatoes, a Spirit pumpkin in the near-middle, Golden Acre cabbage in front of that, onions in the back right, peas lining the lower of the picture.
The birdhouse I built a few weeks ago has found its first resident. A lovely pair of wrens! You can see one on the tomato cage holding nesting material.
Ellagance Purple lavender that I started from seed last season. Smells lovely.
Jacob Kline monarda. Five feet tall already!!! My Endless Summer hydrangea is blooming as well.
Rosy Returns daylily.
Flamenco Torch Lily. More of a light apricot than the orange I expected. Perhaps because it is so shaded by the monarda.

It had been two weeks since it last rained here. We hadn't seen any since the extreme rains two weeks ago. Last night, the dry spell ended. A nice dousing rain covered the garden and perked everything back up. Flowers are opening. Birds are singing and splashing around in the puddles. It's a beautiful morning.
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If you have some free time, there's only one day left of Facebook's National Home Gardening Club Decoration contest. If you have a moment to vote for my photo....
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Thanks. Have a great Sunday everyone!

Above: Lady Emma Hamilton rose
Scarlet Oklahoma zinnia and other pickings from the morning garden.
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STAY COOL EVERYONE!

Grapes and Strawberries

My Reliance grape is getting out of control. Spreading onto the lawn making mowing difficult. One large cane that extended beyond the trellis broke during a storm. I realize that it's time to try some summer pruning. I wanted to improve air circulation and light penetration into this monster. Just as I was beginning I found this caterpillar. I'm sure it is great for my grapes. Note the sarcasm. I left him alone though. I will do some research to find out what he might be. Any ideas?
Before:
After:
My raised bed strawberries are doing well. I'm not sure if this is a Sparkle or Sequoia strawberry, but it looks DELICIOUS. I'll let you know later. Whatever it is, I'm going to root the runners and start a new raised bed with them.

Scarlet Oklahoma zinnia are in bloom. A treat planted for both butterflies (nectar), bees (pollen), birds (seeds), and hummingbirds (nectar).Blueray blueberry plant. In it's second season from Jungseed. It came as an overpriced, small twig. Now I will only buy my blueberries from nurseries/garden centers. For the same price, I can get a large plant. Anyway....The three blueberries I planted from them were beat down a bit by the severe drought last season, but all three sprung back nicely. Earliglow strawberries and planted underneath as an edible ground cover. Both of my Salad Bush cucumbers are flowering. Here is one on the left. These are my favorite variety. The vines only reach 3 feet long, but they are very heavy produces of full-sized cukes. The taste is great as well, and my hubby's favorite trait... they're not too seedy. On the right is a Golden Acre cabbage. These grow quickly and will be fully grown and harvested well before the cucumber needs to use the space.Red Zeppelin and Copra onions from Dixondale Farms. I planted these same varieties from them last season and they turned out to be excellent storage onions. I used up the last of them in January, so this season I planted twice as much.Mixed varieties of shelling peas. I definitely need to quadruple the amount I plant next season. My three year old daughter and I can't get enough!Reliance grape vine. Planted last Spring. It is a monster. Even after havy late winter pruning. I really need to summer prune it a bit to keep it more manageable. I will also replace the 6 foot supports with 8 foot ones early next season.The dwarf Stanley plum tree that I got from Starks last fall has been leafing and branching out well. I'm not sure why, but the leaves are turning red. I found two white leafhoppers (?) on the one leaf. Anybody have a guess as to why the leaves suddenly turned red? We did just go through a 3 day heatwave with high humidity and temperatures in the 90s. Your thoughts???

Butterflies, ID help, butterfly weed, fruit and harvests

Temperatures are reaching the 90s for a second straight day. I'm finding the heat and high humidity oppressive, but it's not stopping the butterflies from frolicking around!
ID me please! This is a free plant my son brought home a few weeks ago for Earth Day. I was wondering if anyone knew what type of tree it is and how tall it could get. My guess it's a pine...of some sort....
A close-up of the tips of the branches. Can someone ID me please?
I have had a lot of difficulty germinating the Asclepias syriaca (Common milkweed) seed that I bought on eBay. Only one of the first batch I planted germinated. That would be the one I have in a large container by itself. I decided to take my chances and use the paper towel method on the few remaining seeds. I dampened a paper towel, tossed the seeds onto the paper, and placed it inside a Ziploc bag in a window with bright, primarily indirect light. Another one germinated after about a week and a half. I carefully removed this one from the paper towel (it came right off) and planted it with the taproot covered in a small peat pot with potting soil.
Carmine Jewel Bush Cherry from Gurneys that I received last week. Self-pollinating.
Daily mixed shelling pea and strawberry harvest.

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued here. Sitting here daydreaming about getting a white, seedless grape vine....and a dwarf, self-pollinating sweet cherry.

Bumblebee on bolting Golden Acre cabbage flowers.My bed of Yukon Gold and Red Norland potatoes. There are two Mucho Nacho jalapeno and two Fat N' Sassy pepper plants in the bed. Yesterday I added more straw mulch around the growing potatoes to keep them from turning green. Then I added even more straw around the strawberry plants to keep the berries away from the soil.
I purchased seed for Common Milkweed. Asclepias syriaca. Only one of them germinated. I hope it not only survives, but thrives and multiplies.Nepeta Walkers Low. It may be low but it sure isn't petite. This ONE plant that I added last summer is at least 4 feet wide. This is after I used a shovel to slice off a large chunk to plant out front. The bumblebees are absolutely loving it!Yesterday I placed some clothespins on the dwarf fruit trees I planted in the fall. It may not be attractive, but it will help with maintaining wide angles for the scaffolds. This is my dwarf Golden Delicious apple tree.I found apple aphid clusters on the new foliage of this apple tree. Their buddy, an ant, was hanging out with them. I didn't want to dig out the hose and haul it around the house to blast them off with water. I couldn't find my spray bottle either. What to do? Improvise. My kids' squirt guns came in handy. Not as good as a hose, but it slowly worked.

Right now it is pouring AGAIN. While there was a bit of a break this morning, I ran out to see what was in bloom. This is what I saw. Alexander Fleming peony. It is supposed to be fragrant, but I guess the wet weather is interfering with that.
Felix Crousse
Felix Crousse up close
William Baffin climbing roses starting to open up.
Golden Zest rose. Lemon-scented! Although not with all the rain.
Jacob Kline monarda. Just added last fall. Initially there were 3 plants but one died. The two remaining are really taking off. I can see how these would get a bit pushy in the garden.
"Climbing" the wall on a trellis is Brite Eyes rose. To the left of it is a Double Knockout rose.
Brite Eyes up close.
Maynight Salvia with a Navaho blackberry flower that just opened.
The rain isn't all bad. Everything is getting pretty lush.