Garden Success

I have really liked mixing the beds this year with multiple plants. It seems to work with the natural order instead of against it.

I planted mostly native plants this year, and it was a definite win. More pollinators for sure!  

I have tried growing the Queen Anne's lace plants that are made for gardening, but I have a problem with the biting black bugs that love to spend time on them, so my new replacement plant has become oryla, and it was perfect! 

Sweet peas are a favorite, but we bolt to hot weather so fast here in my climate that it might not be worth it to grow them. They really are pretty though and smell great, even if they succumb to the heat in June.

I discovered you can just throw sweet alyssum seed in the garden about the same time you plant peas, and they grow without a fuss.

Cosmos, always a favorite, but I like the shorter varieties.

Major excitement over these strawflowers; they were stunning. 

Johnny's Ballerina zinnias with some volunteer zinnias; they were very pretty, and I was a fan.

Of all my roses, this Lady of Shallot has been performing well.

I continue to have good results with the Bubblegum petunias in my raised planters.

The pollinators have been very comfortable in my garden this year.

The Pelargonium continues to like the backyard with a little afternoon shade. Geraniums...I think it is funny to call them by their scientific name, like the British do.

We have had several more bird nests. This is a cardinal's nest.

We had to get up high and get a picture of the eggs to identify them, and then we saw the mother and father cardinal tending the nest.

We just love our beautiful butterflies. I do as much as I can to give them habitat.

These are some of my favorite garden successes this year. I have been emphasizing native habitat over obsessing about weed control. Sometimes the weeds get ahead of me, and then I pull them and take note if any beneficial insects are living there! The chipmunks are very happy with my yard too. They are hard to spot because they are very quick, but the 45-degree angle they hold their tail at when they are scampering about gives them away. I saw one this morning and thought it was a butterfly at the top of the fence, and I watched for a few more seconds and realized with that give away angle they hold their tails, it was a chipmunk.  

In Victory,

Sherry