The weekend is nice after what seemed to be weeks of rain. At least we didn't have to drag out the hoses to water anything! This weekend is full of activities in the area - Elvis Festival, Car Show, Summerland Garden Tours, and Pancake breakfast at Summerland Sweets this morning.
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| Perennials and a big blue oat grass at sunset. |
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| Orange milkweed and some lilies in bud. |
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| Rock garden area, with clematis going to seed |
The vegetables are just getting going in the ground and raised beds (horse troughs in the above picture). It is a bit of a pain to water right now, since the new puppy eats hoses! We have to hide them away in boxes or buildings and haul them out as needed.
I've seen a few tiger swallowtail butterflies around (no monarchs) and I have admired the hummingbirds at the feeder and the flowers. I've identified the ones here as
calliope hummingbirds. They are very small and the male is identified by a nice purple bib below his neck. At some point, I hope to get a nice photo.
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| Blooming hens and chicks (Sempervivum) in the rock crevices |
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| Sunflower |
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| Jostaaberries |
Sunflowers are just starting here, though we always associate those with fall. I have planted some "mammoth" sunflowers in the vegetable garden and they are rapidly growing like Jack's beanstalk, up towards the sky. There are no flowers on those yet.
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| McIntosh Apples getting pink! |
We picked up some local grown raspberries and I canned some jam. Yum! Our jostaberries are on their second year and we got some berries this year. I'm planning on combining with some other berries to make a syrup. Jostaberries are a complex cross between black currents and gooseberries and the plants are thornless. They taste like grapes.
