Weeding on the Wild Side

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Container flowers and Vegetables, August 22, 2015

Welcome to my blog, today I am seeing a smoky haze in the air, but the nearest Washington fire I can find on fire alerts is perhaps 68 miles away. The Northwest is in trouble, perhaps it was our turn for a disaster. But though this world has tribulation, I have a safe harbor, because my feet are on the Rock of Ages.

Today I am linking with-

Orange You Glad It's Friday hosted by Maria

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

From the Farm Hop hosted by Stoney Acres

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Some of my container flowers are blooming. The tropical Milkweed I overwintered in the house continues to bloom, with Browallia americana-

Another plant with Polygonum capitata-

The Coreopsis tinctoria 'Dwarf Red' trails nicely in a pot-

But one of the plants turned out to be the very tall Coreopsis tinctoria with the red center-

Fortunately, Browallia americana has gotten very tall also-

A second Browallia speciosa with larger flowers has started to bloom, but they are not as enchantingly pleated-

A visitor found sleeping in a flower-

Fuchsia magellanica 'David' has proven to be tougher than most-

What has been fruiting in my yard this week? It is the tail end of the blueberry harvest, a wonderfully productive evergreen blueberry, I'm not sure which, either Legacy, Sunshine Blue, or Misty.

A delightful zucchini, Cocozelle, makes enormous 4.5 lb / 2kg, I like them big, but they can be slightly seedy or have a slightly tougher skin-

Tomatoes are finally getting ripe, soon there will be a deluge, I started some seeds I hadn't grown for quite a few years so I wouldn't lose them, clockwise from the top, Saucy, Dix Doights, Ropreco-

Today is the birthday of my next younger sister, when I was 5 years old I performed my first haircut on her. I'm reminded of this because my 5 year old grandson cut his own hair. Here we had to close our eyes to get a treat.

Hannah

or cameras are macro

I had a comment about problems with leaving a comment here. If you are having trouble commenting on my blog, you can send me an email at z8hannah8z@gmail.com to comment and let me know of your difficulties. Thanks! I looked up solutions on Blogger and apparently Wordpress has not updated their Open ID servers, so to comment on Blogspot blogs, you must select OpenID then enter your address, changing it to plain http://address instead of https://address.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

GBBD, Fruitful August 15, 2015

Today I am linking with

Skywatch Friday hosted by Yogi, Sandy, and Sylvia

Orange You Glad It's Friday hosted by Maria

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day hosted by Carol

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

Someone to watch over me-

It's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day again, join hostess Carol at May Dreams Gardens, link above, to see what is blooming in other gardens. Rozanne hardy geranium is going strong-

Coreopsis lanceolata-

Gaillardia 'Tokajer'-

The Rose of Sharons are blooming, here. Some roses are still blooming sporadically, Monsieur Tillier, here for In a Vase on Monday, with Coreopsis, Chaste tree bloom, a sprig of Euphorbia cyparassias (cut with caution, harmful milky sap), Fireweed, and Ageratum. The container is a globe that was cherished by my mother-in-law's family, stabilized by a pot I made.

What's fruiting now is also interesting to me, probably Zelma Zesta (or maybe Rattlesnake) and Uncle Steve's pole beans-

Grandma Robert's purple pole beans-

Insuk's Wang Kong Runner Beans-

Green Seedless grapes-

Glenora seedless grape-

Another pigeon from the fair, this one can strut like a peacock-

What's blooming and fruiting for you? Hannah

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Fun at the Fair August 8, 2015

The county fair is on now, I enjoy looking at the flowers and quilts in particular. Today I am linking with-

Orange You Glad It's Friday hosted by Maria

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

Some newer flowers blooming now in my garden are the Rose of Sharons, Hibiscus syriacus,
one is a 10' / 3.5m tree grown from a cutting I received in an exchange.

Next is one that looks very similar, 'Minerva', which is only 3' tall.

They are special to me because this same color bloomed in my Grandpa's garden in South Carolina when I lived with them briefly at ages 4-5. Even then I noticed all the flowers.

My Heart Leaps Up

My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety

William Wordsworth, 1770 - 1850

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/my-heart-leaps

A cute pigeon entry at the fair, while I think he is adorable, I wonder what physiological price he has to pay for the genetic manipulation that created his upright form-

A fancy orange and red Dahlia from the fair-

A quilt design from the fair that I find interesting, I don't know what it's called but there seem to be a lot of variations-

Part of another quilt with a similar design element, which do you notice first, the light patterns or the dark patterns-

My entry for this week joins up with other cut flowers arrangements for In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

I like it with my kitchen tiles-

The glass ball vase requires small flowers. They are Ageratum, Fireweed, Chaste tree, and geranium oxonianum flowers, and Euphorbia cyparissias foliage. Be careful and wear gloves if you cut Euphorbia foliage, the milky sap can cause allergies or eye damage.

What do you like to see at the fair? Hannah

or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved. I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.

I had a comment about problems with leaving a comment here. If you are having trouble commenting on my blog, you can send me an email at z8hannah8z@gmail.com to comment and let me know of your difficulties. Thanks! I looked up solutions on Blogger and apparently Wordpress has not updated their Open ID servers, so to comment on Blogspot blogs, you must select OpenID then enter your address, changing it to plain http://address instead of https://address.

Monday, August 3, 2015

In a Vase on Monday, August 3, 2015

I'm joining hostess Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday, there are not a lot of flowers out there presently thanks to the heat, a week over 90ºF, which is usual for some southern parts of the country, but also no rain. It does cool off at night here though, so I like to get out on those cool mornings to garden and water.

This is a vase I made many years ago when I did more ceramics. It features a Fourth of July variegated rose, Ageratum, Chaste tree blooms, Fireweed, and a little pink Champney's Pink Cluster rose. The greens are Lonicera nitida. Here on a silver background-

Closer

What's blooming in your garden now? Hannah

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved. I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.

I had a comment about problems with leaving a comment here. If you are having trouble commenting on my blog, you can send me an email at z8hannah8z@gmail.com to comment and let me know of your difficulties. Thanks! I looked up solutions on Blogger and apparently Wordpress has not updated their Open ID servers, so to comment on Blogspot blogs, you must select OpenID then enter your address, changing it to plain http://address instead of https://address.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Hot Tiny Thymes and Mourning Dove, August 1, 2015

Welcome, it's been over 100ºF / 39ºC here the last couple of days. I was driving in a non-airconditioned car and visualized sitting in a sauna, soaking up the heat. Today I am linking with-

Wild Bird Wednesday hosted by Stewart M.

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

I'd Rather B' Birdin' hosted by Hootin' Anni

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I've been adding some Euphorbias to my garden because of their tolerance for drought and their toxicity which protects them from rabbits and voles. Euphorbia x martinii 'Ascot Rainbow', variegated plus with variegated yellow bracts, the flowers are the tiny red structures in the center-

Euphorbia polychroma, Cushion Spurge, a rather skimpy option from the nursery but hopefully it will fill in to make a nice cushiony plant, the yellow bracts will someday look like flowers-

Euphorbia x martinii 'Tiny Tim', it stays smaller and has reddish new leaves and someday yellow bracts-

I grew some creeping Thyme from seed 2 years ago, one seedling really took off and made a nice carpet-

The Thyme has spread to 18" / 500cm by 15" / 450cm. It has tiny fragrant leaves and surprised me recently with some tiny flowers-

I started more creeping Thyme from another source last fall, and the new little plants seem to be spreading well in spite of not being watered very often, they have bigger leaves and a looser look-

I do have to pick a few weeds out of the Thyme every few months, but now that it is a dense carpet it is very hard for weeds to get a foothold. I'm wondering how far it will spread and whether I have the nerve to remove some little plugs to make more starts.

Other plants I started from seed last fall are starting to bloom, Scabiosa columbaria 'Blue Note', a cute little plant with dainty rounded foliage, and something unusual among perennials I start from seed, ground-hugging instead of tall, lanky and floppy, perhaps my most exciting new seedling-

But not what I would call blue! The nursery industry is tireless in it's efforts to find blue where it does not exist, as though the color Magenta or purple is somehow inferior, though a very common flower color.

A Mourning Dove graced my deck and path with its cute coos, apparently thirsty in this heat-

Blue Moon from last night

I'm getting lots of beans and squash out in the vegetable garden, and some lettuce, here is a "weed", bear in mind that the definition of a weed is an unwanted plant, so it is not a weed in my garden, Purslane. I was reading that it has more Omega 3 fatty acids than any other plant in the Solar System. Impressive. Plus a lot of other good nutrients. I'm also going to try cooking it with greens.

What wild plants do you find useful in your garden? Hannah

or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved. I enjoy reading your comments, and will visit your blog and leave comments there if possible, but I am not able to do so if google + is the only option.

I had a comment about problems with leaving a comment here. If you are having trouble commenting on my blog, you can send me an email at z8hannah8z@gmail.com to comment and let me know of your difficulties. Thanks! I looked up solutions on Blogger and apparently Wordpress has not updated their Open ID servers, so to comment on Blogspot blogs, you must select OpenID then enter your address, changing it to plain http://address instead of https://address.