Category Archives: garden

Tiny Predator

A tiny beneficial wasp who’s name I’m not positive of. I did a search on the internet and came up with –Ichneumon Wasp (Ichneumonidae). She’s about as long as my pinky fingernail or 6mm ( I don’t have long fingernails).
They are harmless to us but deadly to the cabbage worms and aphids that eat my perennials!
To me, the insects are just as interesting as the flowers! 
Go here to see the opposite end of the scale for black wasps in my garden -> Giant Black Wasp

Everything’s Coming Up Flowers

Annabell Hydrangea ~ Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’

 Summer’s in full swing now and so is the garden…
So here’s a few more blooms for you to enjoy.
Happy Summer!

Marigolds (Tagetes sp.)

False Sunflower, Heliopsis

Spider Web Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum arachnoideu) go here for post with this plant

Munstead Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

Blanket Flower, Gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun’

Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium purpureum ~ pre-bloom

Container Gardening for 2012

A favorite hobby of mine is seeing what I can grow in a pot, anywhere from little flowers to perennials, veggies and herbs, all the way up to shrubs roses and trees. Some things work, some things don’t, but that’s the fun of it.

Here’s some of this seasons projects…

Herbs in pots and tubs~ your standard basils, chives, rosemary, catnip, green onions peppermint, chocolate mint, camomile, sage, stevia, parsley-flat and curly, thyme got lost somewhere in there… no  pun intended (or maybe it was… ). Strawberries on the side are in their second year and I have them caged to keep the Devourer of Gardens‘ out of them. The hens and chicks and the blue spruce sedum are there because I thought they looked good in that spot.

close up of hens & chicks and blue spruce sedum (pink flowers belong to the spiderweb hens & chicks). This container is on it’s second year too.

Hosta in a pot. ‘Red October’ second year and doing beautifully.

Tiny Tim cherry tomato in a galvanized bucket (I grow these every year). It only gets 15″ tall and has 1″ size tomatoes on them. I’ll update this one later with the tomatoes. It’s one of my most popular tomato plants and I always run out fast.

Banana Peppers in a galvanized bucket. Just one of the many pepper plants I grow in a pot.
(The tree behind it is an Amur Maple I grew from seed-beautiful little tree that only gets 12′ high).

My favorite this year.
I planted Purple fountain grass, two purple potato vines and a white ‘Million Bells’ Calibrachoa in a garage sale plastic urn.
the window box is planted with a variety of romaine lettuces.

An assortment of flowers and herbs~ a Dwarf Korean Lilac, the Tiny Tim tomato in the middle, mandevilla vine, Pineapple sage, moss rose, variegated sedum, and blue spruce sedum starts.

“Wait Mom! There’s a leaf out of place on this sedum! I’ll fix it for you!”