Dreaming Of Fall

All the landscape is in a survival mode. It has been 104 degrees for the last 3 days with no end in sight. I'm busy putting up the large bounty of tomatoes to use later on and thinking up 101 ways to eat fresh tomatoes. I'm not tired of them yet. I'm planning on bruschetta for supper. We had biscuits and molasses with fresh tomatoes for breakfast. Probably will have fresh guacamole served with chips and tomatoes for lunch. I'm dreaming of fall now - hope to get a second bloom from the daylilies unless the temps stay in the 100s all through September - I sure hope not!

Wow, It's Hot Out Here!

It was 104 degrees here yesterday. I
spend my days watering, trying to keep everything
alive. Also spending more and more
time inside with the cool air and reading books and
dreaming of cooler temps.

Big Blush sunflower

Lemonade Mix sunflower

I'm trying out the coleus next to the
Firehouse dwarf nandina to see what color
works best here. These are
the ones I started about a week ago
from pinched tops of other coleus. I can't
believe the coleus is not affected by this heat.

My adopted kitty agreed to pose for me with
his new red ball. The grass in some places has died.

Not Your Grandmother's Zinnias

Finally have some of the lemon colored sunflowers
starting to bloom. Now I'm
waiting on the reddish brown ones to
bloom.

Happy July 4th

I brought this geranium plant in a pot from my
old home last October. It sat in the
garage all winter and it finally
has come back and bloomed. It looked
dead when I brought it out
of the garage in the spring. I
re-potted it with new potting soil.

July garden scene.

July garden scene of Firehouse dwarf Nandina's
with some of the last daylily's in this bed.
Some of them will rebloom. I would
eventually like to plant a Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) tree here.

Cast Iron Plant - Aspidistra Elatior in the background
with Burgundy Glow Ajuga and Purple Oxalis.
The Cast Iron plant has grown alot
since I planted it in the spring. It
makes a good filler plant and is
evergreen.

You know summer is here - sunflowers make me smile.

July garden scenes.

Hornworm

We think this is a tomato hornworm. I went out this morning and was
inspecting the cherry tomato plants that are
growing in pots next to my chair on the patio.
I didn't have my "reading" glasses on and I
thought this was a curled leaf. As I reached
to pick it off I realized it
wasn't a leaf.

Catnip with William Shakespeare 2000 English rose.
My cats are not interested in it.
We have had 100 degree temps the whole
month of June and no rain since the middle of May.

I love the bicolor zinnia.

This is the Lemonade Mix sunflower. See the seed packet
below. I haven't gotten any of the lighter shade ones.

The okra is coming along. It's not bothered by the heat.

I like the shape of the okra leaf. This is Clemson Spineless.

The cantaloupe are intermingling with the okra.
I'm not sure which one this is - I planted
two varieties. Hale's Best Jumbo and Charentais

I like the little tendril in this photo.

Photos of the seed packets.

Living In A Geodesic Dome

I moved the Crimson pygmy dwarf barberry that was in the
 front flower bed to the back yard.
 I decided I would rather have
Drift roses in that bed.

Today's bounty. The tomato on the right
 is the Black Krim.

I moved the Purple Oxalis from the front
flower bed, which gets mostly sun (I thought
putting it in the back of the flower bed under the
crepe myrtle tree would shade it) to the shade garden
in the back yard.

Miss Muffett Caladium with the Purple Oxalis behind it.

I moved Golden Prize daylily to the front yard. You
can also see how the living fence of Elaeagnus shrubs
is progressing. The two Natchez Crepe Myrtles
have not bloomed yet.

I have photos of the outside of the "dome", so I thought maybe
you might be curious as to the inside. This shot is of the upstairs
living area that has a massive skylight window in the
center of the ceiling.

It's somewhat of a challenge for hanging artwork
on the walls. Upstair the walls are
really domed so I solved this with
decorative easels.
Not all the walls are domed, so you do have some
flat wall spaces.

Looking up to the upstairs area from the main living area.

Downstairs living area with the massive fireplace.

Stone floor as you walk in the front door. Steps down
into main living area. Back of fireplace is on the left side
of picture.

Back of the fireplace. This is what you see
when coming in the front door.

Looking down from upstairs
toward the fireplace.

Skylight over the first floor living area.

Another shot of first floor skylight. 

Decorative woodwork over the window

Decorative woodwork over the windows.