Jacob's Cattle Bean Plants

July has been beastly hot, but nearly everything is doing really well in the garden!

Flowers are blooming, weeds are prolific, veggies are iffy, medicinal and culinary herbs are thick, and most of the small and tree fruits are either finishing up or nowhere near ready depending on what you’re looking at.

I’m excited, we may actually get to enjoy a few of these peaches this year! Most years they are eaten by Japanese beetles but since they are currently busy destroying roses, nectarines and Marshmallow, we have hope for a fresh, home grown peach.

Young Peaches

Most of the flowers are doing nicely, too. Except for the ones hubby keeps mowing down.

Anyone that knows me know that my flowers have to be tough. I’ll water when needed, but absolutely no floral mollycoddling goes on around here.  Heck, I don’t deadhead most of the time… but I will go out and cut bouquets when I’m feeling girly.

Which leads us to this next photo…

It just sort of happened. It’s what the late TV painter, Bob Ross would have called a “happy accident”.

In a girly fit of flower arranging I set the pitcher on the birdhouse while snipping and filling it with blooms. I stepped back and  LOVED the way it looked sitting there so much that I probably took 56 pictures of it.

Bouquet on Birdhouse

I also killed the rechargeable camera batteries, but it was totally worth it. Don’t you agree?

.

This is what I want my Wisteria to look like.

Wisteria Being Gorgeous

Well don’t get all excited yet. It doesn’t.

I have had some planted in several locations for 6 years. Really. It can take a long time for them to bloom.

This year I finally saw what looked like buds forming on two of them.

Wisteria ALMOST Blooming

I had to go out and check on them hourly, and pinch my self to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

I was especially concerned after some big storms rolled though but all was A-OK until….

THIS.

Albus the Monster Dog

Did THIS

Gnawed Wisteria Vine

Causing THIS.

Murdered Wisteria

All I could do was lurch back to the house, grab the camera and take a picture of

THIS:

I'm Sorry...

And no, he wasn’t, not really.

He is just pouting because I took his new stick away.

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Peony Buds

I LOVE PEONIES! Sorry, I am yelling.

But I do. I love them. And I love Springtime…and all the other ‘gardeny’ stuff  that blooms this time of year.

But I digress…

Last year these double pink babies did not look so hot, and I really feared they would rot due to all the wet weather we had.

Pink Peonies

Imagine my surprise and delight today when I was greeted with this gorgeous display!

This is just the first of the peonies to bloom, so unless I can control the impulse to take 12 squillion peony photos, be warned. You may get really sick of peonies in the next few weeks!

The Peony and her Bee

Oh, and even better? Besides their stunning good looks, they smell really good, too!

You just have to remember to watch for bees before doing a full face plant into a blossom.

The weather is supposed to take a cold turn tonight with temperatures dropping back near freezing. After making sure that seedlings and tender plants were safely tucked in the greenhouse I decided to take a few pictures of some blooming shrubs and edible landscaping. If it all gets hit by frost tonight I’ll have gorgeous photos to remember them by. You know, exactly like Better Homes and Garden’s gorgeous photo spreads… I’m pretty sure they use a little bitty Canon and a cell phone to take their best shots, too…

First up for my show and tell, my favorite lilac-Mount Baker.

The fragrance is delicious.

Honestly-I just want to shove my nose into these flowers, snort deeply and keep it there all spring.

Mount Baker Lilac

Next…

Blueberry Blossoms

Blueberries in Bloom

Most years we don’t get many berries unless I cage them early. The chickens pick off the lower ones, and the wild birds get the upper berries. They are all such little pigs.

And finally,

Apple Blossoms

This crazy tree does not know it’s been pronounced dead…twice. It has blown over, been completely uprooted and snapped at the base of the trunk. Now it simply reclines.

This photo is from a few years ago – after the second time it went over in a bad storm. We had lots of trees to clean up and I hadn’t gotten around to cutting it down when I noticed it was still producing fruit.

It’s a Zombie Apple Tree!

Recumbent Zombie Apple Tree

Although a professor of mine from some years ago would have told me to “prune it at the roots” I did not have the heart to cut down a tree so determined to live.

Today it still grows in it’s happy-yet wonky-condition and even produces plenty of gorgeous Rome apples for me each fall!

I just consider it a living sculpture these days.

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Pretty Little Bouquet

The white  lilacs in it smell heavenly and I think the little hen on the mug resembles ‘Saucy’ the hen strolling just beyond in the garden.

Thanks for the nice surprise, Nancy!

I love my pals