Garden Gems

portrait of a carrot

the girls, with jill and the carrot

The other day, Jill came over to help thin the carrots. She offered a baby carrot to the girls. They were thrilled and thought it was quite delicious.

cucumber blossom

The cucumber plants have finally come to life, after spending weeks looking very bedraggled.

bachelor's buttons

When I first moved into this house, a gardening friend came over to help identify what was growing here. She misidentified a plant, thinking it was some form of aster, that would bloom late in the season. I let it all grow, which gave it a chance to establish itself undisturbed. It turns out, it wasn't an aster but the very invasive weed artemesia. For the rest of my gardening life here, I will be struggling to keep the artemesia under control. One common name for the plant is Crone's Wort, so I thought it would be fun to ask some bachelors to help me keep the old crone entertained!

the first morning glory

The new neighbors, who are spending months renovating their house before they move in, have hired a contractor whose trucks have carelessly dug up sections of my front yard several times already. When I tried to discuss the situation with him, he was quite rude. I've chosen to draw the battle line with a wall of morning glories and a bottle garden.

dahlia

I have never wanted to mess with annuals, because it seems unnatural to me to plant flowers just for a season. But I couldn't resist this dahlia when Jill offered it to me this year. This first flower is having a lively conversation with the nearby bee balm.