Summer Smotherin'!

Wow. Humidity and Heat just don't mix together very well. I end up sweating like crazy before I can even walk down the porch steps. It's so smothering out there that I just can't figure out how people lived here in the old days before air conditioning.

I took a quick look around the place and haven't noticed anything new except that I'm not the only gardener here. Squirrels tend to bury corn from their feed and naturally, they grow! If they're in beds and out of the way, I just let them grow and pass it off to the squirrels when the corn is ready.

Don't believe me?

That's all growing in the poor Rose Bed. It's so choked out with grass and weeds. Poor things. I'm saving up newspapers to place in the bed (to be topped with mulch to finish it off) come next Spring so that it's just the roses and nothing else.

Amaryllis, Lilies, Rose, and Cactus

An update on some going-ons in my little area.


Amaryllis Seed Pods

From the two flower stalks from the red Amaryllis, only these three took. I can't wait to collect the seeds.


Orange Lilies

From the entire bed of lilies, the orange ones are the first to emerge.


Rose

One of the roses that bloomed in the rose bed. This is an unusual color pattern.


Opuntia Pusilla


Opuntia Pusilla


Opuntia Pusilla

I'm pretty surprised that there's tons of buds on the prickly pear! I thought they all bloomed in January and that I had completely missed it. I don't think I've ever seen this many buds on them before.

A couple updates...

Amaryllis
Close-up 1
Close-up 2

In the first picture, you can see that the biggest Amaryllis bulb is starting to send out a bud. This bloomed last year and it was a beautiful flower. Oh, also an update on the Amaryllis that bloomed a few weeks back, It appears that only one seed pod was successful out of four.


Lily Bed
Close-up 1

I'm surprised that many of them are starting to bud. I hope many of them open at the same time so that I can cross-pollinate.


Roses Bed
Close-up 1

What blows me away is that three rose bushes are budding. It's only a matter of time before I finally know the colors of some of them.


Yarrow Bed
Close-up 1

People keep asking me what I do for the yarrow and the answer is... nothing! I don't know why they're so tall. It's pretty neat that there's so many buds ready to open. It'll be a blanket of white pretty soon.

Random Garden Stuff

Luckily for me, I was able to borrow a camera. I don't know how long I'll be without my own camera but I hope it won't be for too long. In the meanwhile, on with the pictures I took...


Amaryllis

Sorry MrBrownThumb. You're gonna hate this but I have no specific names on these either! hehehe. The big bulb in the middle sprouted all these babies around it. Towards the 'front' are two bulbs I got from a friend. One of them is sending up two buds. She thinks it's yellow but she said in all the time she had it, it's never bloomed (except she has one blooming this year so we're going to be sharing the surprise.).


Clematis


Hibiscus

Pretty soon, there's going to be three huge bushes and tons of blooms. Not only that but there'll be a very huge war against the sawflies as well. I have sevin spray that I'll be using. It's the only thing that worked against the sawflies last year after I've done many other safer attempts due to the dogs. There's now a fence keeping the dogs out so I may be able to spray more diligently.


Lilies

I'm surprised they're coming up. They were doing badly last year in another part of the yard so I relocated them this spring. I didn't think they'd come up. Now I'm wondering if they'll bloom.


Roses

The roses were also relocated because they've been doing very badly the past few years. They haven't bloomed in so long and it's to the point that I honestly can't tell you what color(s) they are. I finally relocated them to this spot and I'm hoping they'll do much much better and actually bloom.