Not an Empty Garden

Boy, this post is a little late in the making.  I've taken a few pictures throughout the spring and summer in my flower bed and now flower season will soon be over.

Hey, Birdie, don't poop on my Vibe!

The birds have visited, the flowers have bloomed, the insects and worms and slugs have enjoyed the kingdom I have provided for them.

 I'm a perennial grower, annuals don't do well under my neglectful eye.  With all the beautiful native plants I've seen on my hikes this summer I'm thinking about adding a few next year to the open spots I have.  The only natives I currently have are Columbine, Ox-Eye Daisy and Goldenrod invaded a couple of years ago in the far corner on its own as well.  I eyed it tonight and decided it can stay awhile longer.

My favorites though are the herbs - lavendar and thyme grow happily every year without me having to help them at all.  I plant a basil plant every year and harvest it until the first frost, plucking its leaves and enjoying them on my sandwiches and in my soups.  Today I'm having a turkey, provolone and tomato sandwich with fresh basil for lunch at work on a pretzel bun.  Yummmmmm.

lovely lavendar

While I don't get a lot of butterflies I do get some interesting insects.  I like the cicadas and grasshoppers the best, but it seems like every year I see something I never saw before.

Primrose

Editing this post inspired me to go out in the yard again, even though it's cloudy and threatening to rain.  Somehow I don't think the tiny frog I spied on my Turk's Cap will mind if it does.

The tiny bugs hiding in the onion blossoms probably don't care either.

Now that I get a closer look at this guy I wish I'd done a super close-up of just his wings.  I went back out to look for him, but it was a miracle I ever saw him in the first place.

Bee Balm is another of my favorites, it breaks my heart that the bloom doesn't last that long.  Even the leaves are fading now.

I was surprised to see the Hostas bursting with blossoms again.  We've had a lot of rain again lately which is good because last week I moved some of my new Columbines that popped up.  I yanked out a ton of Vinca Vine and there were a few hiding amongst it.

When I was editing the Hosta photo I liked it with its original color above but also like a grayed-out version below.  There wasn't enough contrast for B&W, but I thought it looked sweet with the color faded out.

Off to work another 10 hour day today, that's going to be at least 35 hours this week.  I thought I was supposed to be part-time??  Soon...soon...the new girl knows her stuff and in a month I should be handing her most of the responsibility and resuming my selfish ways.  Maybe next summer my garden will get a little more attention too.  Suddenly Elton John's song "Empty Garden" is in my head, which of course is about a gardener but the gardener is really John Lennon and his flowers I suppose are his songs.  "Imagine" is one of my all time favorite songs by anybody.  What's one of yours?