An Evening Walk Through The Garden...

The Hibiscus are Blooming! The white ones are big and pretty...

...let's go see a few more...

...The red ones are also beautiful with the sun glowing through them...

....But the pink ones are, IMHO, the most gorgeous by far!

The Giant form of Castor Bean is getting big, but nothing like 2 years ago, when it got to about 12 feet high! Cooler summer caused it, i guess.

I didn't plan the Anemone coming up through my "Tiger Eye" Sumac, but it looks like i did!

The Red Cypress is just beginning to bloom -( the hummy birds will be happy)!

The "Cherokee Daybreak" Dogwood still looks awesome, despite a little sunburn on the leaves

My "Silver Cloud" Redbud COMPLETELY died last winter- but i refused to give up on it, waited and waited, and it finally began to sprout again! Looks great (short, but great). Note the Lotus and Butterbur in the background.

The Boston Ivy (this one is supposedly taken directly from the ivy growing in Wrigley Field) is growing well all over the trunks of the peach tree we cut down a few years ago.

....The peas are getting cranky!....(Peas by Carruth - paint job by me!)

CRICKIT! Get outta the way!

Now that she moved, this is what i was aiming at- the fish look hungry...

Koi, Rosey Reds, and Goldfish add a calm conclusion to our walk

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Poor Kitty

Crickit wearing her "outside" collar (note the bells)

What's wrong with Crickit's nose? This happened to her last season - our cats go outside, but only when we're out too. We actually have trained them to stay in our yard, and that surprises a lot of people, but we do have a privacy fence around most of the backyard, it would be more difficult if there was no fence. So, anyway, when Crickit had this last year, i figured they were mosquito bites, and when she was indoors in the cold season, it went away. This year, it started the same time i started to find mosquitos biting me, so i again figured it was insects. Neither cat has fleas, and Skeeter hasn't got a mark on her. It's looking pretty nasty now, though, despite my putting Aloe on it (can't put much on it that is safe for her to lick off) so she's going to the vet tomorrow.

Squib Knocket For Everyone!!!

i like weird plants. Or rare. Or anything obscure with a strange name. i have variegated horseradish, hemp leaved mallow, laceleaf lilac, "Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate" (Polygonum orientale) - stuff like that. I am still looking for Hosta "Illicit Affair" - sounds like a T-shirt slogan ("...I wanted an illicit affair in the garden, and all I got was this stupid plant!")

Anyway. A few years back i heard of a plant in the Euphorbia family (Euphorbia cyparissias), one of the common names of it being "Squib - Knocket", and i thought that was pretty interesting. (Note: Other colloquial names of the plant are Welcome-To-Our-Home, Graveyard-Moss, and Quack-Salver's-Spurge; in Dutch, a quack-salver is a charlatan - ( i haven't a clue what the hell a quack salver is, but, then again, what's a "Squib"?).

So i started to try to find the elusive Squib- Knocket - i finally did, but can't remember if it was thru a swap or if i actually paid money for it (i have seen it at nurseries occasionally). Sort of pretty, except it got less pretty the more INVASIVE it got! Plus the sap is sticky and causes a rash if i get it on my skin. Got it on the rock garden, and hasn't seemed to travel beyond trying to take that over, and i do still have it just because i like to see the look on someone's face when i tell them what it is! The disadvantages don't outweigh the novelty yet, so i'll continue to fight with it until they do!

Mardi Gras

The beads sparkling in the August sunshine, presented in one of my birdbaths, one i personally have in my yard

i'm a bead maniac, too! Word gets around, and anyone with spare beads sends them my way. These are from one of my co workers, she's got family in New Orleans who sends her the Mardi Gras beads, and she was nice enough to think of me when she had extras! Nice to know that the celebration is continuing and growing stronger again! i showed the beads to my husband, who immediately asked me, "What'd you have to do to get THOSE?" LOL! He knows me too well!

No, sweetie, they were gifts- honest! (Thanks, Sheri!)

At least i'll be prepared for this coming carnival season down in Louisiana....