Whimsy

The newest addition to the garden. It was windy today, and it was twirling when I took the picture. But, with digital point and shoot, it's hard to get it to show this motion.

Added 9/4/10 - the wind is blowing a bit this evening.

Buzz Off!

The water didn't work on th bees. I ended up with a spray from the Farm Store that says it would shoot a 20 ft stream. Last night, I sprayed and aimed towards the hole from the sidewalk. The spray piled up like a bunch of whipped cream on top of the hole. Left it.

Read the fine print - it says to spray all of the can into the hole. Hmmm. You'd have to be right on top of the hole to make that happen.

This morning by the light of the full moon, I got closer, and sprayed more into the hole, but still piled up like whipped cream. Left it.

Came home from work, and so far ... no bees!

Buzz

Remember when I had all that gopher activity? Well, no gophers this year, but a group of bees have invaded. Ground bees. I think they are squatting in an old gopher tunnel. I looked at them through my binoculars - they appear to be yellow jackets. If they were honey bees, I'd leave them alone.

I planted a yellow jacket trap nearby. It's definitely in use, now.

I tried watering the hole for 20 minutes last night, and again this morning before it was light. Didn't do a thing to deter them.

Tonight I am getting out the poinsonous spray.

Asian Lillies

When you don't accidentally mow them down when they first appear like weeds, these lillies blossom into quite a sight. These are the lillies I bought at the Yard and Garden show in Feb of 2009. Last year I had one stalk that survived the mowing incident. These year I have 3 stalks.

Bandon Memories

This year during the family trip to Bandon, I decided to stop in at the 101 Plants'n'Things Nursery (on Hwy 101) to see what they were selling. I saw several plants that I didn't have, and that I hadn't seen at the local nursery back home. So, I bought some and made a couple of containers when I got home. Now, I'll think of our time at Bandon when I see these in the garden.

Left side, a maroon ice geranium, bee balm, a blue flower and red flower - names escape me. Right side, double flower geranium, a maple flower plant, and allysum to fill out the pots.

The weather has finally perked up some - today was 70s, sunny mostly.

June Rain

We've had the wettest May in 10 years, and June might be next! Stormy last night; off and on rain today. Downpour at 6pm. It was in the 60s, but wet, wet, wet.

Seed pods

Read that I should cut the seed pods off of daffodils and tulips, after the blossom has withered. This directs the energy to the bulb, instead of making good seeds.

I didn't realize that these flowers had seed pods! But, here is a daffodil seed pod that met up with my current pruning activity.

Weather was mid-70s, sunny - perfect! Next day it rained.