Irises. Peppers.

Bearded Iris raised beds.

Not much to see with the irises.  Sweet alyssum, marigolds are taking more space than I expected.  Swiss chard is vigorous.  At this size it's a bit bitter.

The bed behind the front bed is gradually being filled with established clumps of bearded irises from the house in Vancouver.   Those are modern varieties.  It will look nice in the Spring.  There is still a row of chili peppers.  Those will stay until frost. 

Pepper "Hungarian hot wax"

I didn't expect the peppers to grow.  Was not able to keep them weeded.  Some are doing quite well.  This is "Hungarian Hot Wax".

Kitchen Garden

Chinese cucumber

 Selected shots of the kitchen garden.

Chinese cucumber is blooming.  Shouldn't be long before we get some cucumbers.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry.  This will be the last of them..  I will savor them.  They are so good.

Cherry tomatoes are bearing a few handfulls now.

Cantaloupe is in bloom.  Whether we get some remains to be seen.

Mulberry Illinois Everbearing

Cherry Tomatoes Sungold and SuperSweet 100

Cantaloupe "Minnesota" miniature

Okra Clemson Spineless

 There are a couple of okra flowers.  If we get just one okra, it will be fun.  The plants that did best were the ones I grew in containers then planted into the raised bed.  The direct seeded plants remain puny.

Not pictured, the swiss chard is big and productive.

The pole beans are just beginning to bloom.

Buddleia review

Buddleia "Miss Ruby"

Buddleia "Peach Cobbler"

Buddleia "Peach cobbler"

 I might have a love/hate thing going with Buddleia.  This winter/spring I bought and planted several. It took some effort to find the "legal", "horticulturally politically correct" varieties.  By that I mean, legal to buy and grow, noninvasive, non-see bearing intergeneric hybrids.  These are patented so can't be grown from cuttings.

My goal was to have a fast growing shrub with nectar bearing flowers for insects and hummingbirds.  Especially honeybees.

Online photos of buddleia flowers are usually cropped or pruned to show the pretty, but not the ugly.  There is a lot of pretty but also a lot of ugly.

As the flowers fade, they turn brown.  They brown from the start to the end, over what seems to be a few weeks.  That leaves a choice:  Deadhead, which removes a lot of 'fresh' flower too, or leave the flower on the plant until it's totally brown, which is not attractive.

These photos show the "pretty", except for the bottom photo that shows the "ugly" too.

I will deadhead them.  There should be lots of new flowers following deadheading.

In my garden, the "Cobbler" type buddleias ("Peach Cobbler" and "Blueberry Cobbler") seem to grow much faster and look more weedy, compared to the "Miss" type buddleias (Miss Molly and Miss Ruby).  The flowers on the "Miss" buddleias are more compact and richer in color.

Buddleia "Blueberry Cobbler"

Bumblebees often visit the buddleias.  I haven't seen honeybees on them at all.

Buddleia "Peach Cobbler"

Hummingbirds also visit them.

Insect photos

Borage with honeybees.

Borage with honeybee.

 The good thing about fatigue is I can sit for a long time with the camera and catch some fleeting insects.  So here we are. 

I don't know the wasps that took over the oregano flowers.  They are a small wasp.  I think they are wasps.

Buddleia X  "Peach cobbler" with bumblebee.

Oregano flowers with wasps?

Another Buddleia  X "Peach Cobbler" with bumblebee.

Clark County Fair

Antique equipment

Beekeepers Association

Antique saw and antique visitor

Blacksmiths

The goats were my favorite

Judging the goats.

More goats

I want some goats.

In the honey barn.

There were lots of llamas

More llamas.

We're a long way from Peru.

There's Ning.

Ning petting a goat.

Petting another goat.

Petting a chicken.  A strange looking chicken.

Petting a sheep.

He's thinking...  "How do I get out of here and into Daniel's garden?"

Veggies.

More Veggies.