Opuntia buds

I'm excited. This opuntia has been growing here for 5 years. These are the first flower buds.

Organic Roses

"Billy Graham" hybrid tea, fragrant.
"Playboy" not fragrant but quite vigorous, own root.
"Scentimental" very fragrant
Unknown red Hybrid Tea, very fragrant.

This is the best year so far. They have only been "fed" with a mulch of leaf compost. I pruned them back to about 18 inches this spring. They were sprayed wtih neem oil about once weekly for the past couple of months. Currently it's cool and rainy - I hope they dont wind up covered wtih black spot before friday when I can spray them again.

Nings Pond

 
 

Roses,Strawberries,Dumplings

This remarkable rose is "Evelyn"; a David Austin "English" rose. It's made a slow start, this is its 3rd summer. It's covered with numerous perfect appearing, highly fragrant, blossoms. If I didnt also have several other favorite roses, this would be my favorite. All organic, of course. My hand isn't dirty - those are wounds. I was weeding in a raised bed and the retaining wall gave way. I fell on the bricks. Ouch.
This is 'Gene Boerner'. I'll have to look it up. It's about 5 years old, has been moved twice, and looks quite settled in now.
The first strawberries. I'll eat them tomorrow.
The filling inside these dumplings is about 1/2 chopped chinese chives, and the other 1/2 is finely chopped tofu and scrambled egg. The use of the chives as a major ingredient, instead of just for flavoring, is why they are considered a vegetable instead of an herb. They were very good. But not as good as Ning's (He's in China for a few weeks). These are "slow food" at the extreme: grown from seeds from plants that were grown from seeds that were brought from china; in homemade compost-amended soil; fertilized with coffee grounds and leaf compost; and the dumplings hand made from flour and the ingredients as listed. Here's a similar (but not identical) recipe.

Dog Fun