Refuge from the Rain

 

Tomatoes: So Easy to Grow

So many times I've wondered why people don't take the time to grow a few easy things like tomatoes, or hot peppers, or anything. You can grow tomatoes in containers if you live in the big city. You can grow herbs in a window box. I guess people would rather go to the supermarket and buy inorganic ones thinking maybe that'll raise the kid's scores on the SAT.

But even less do I understand people who move to the country and don't grow anything. I wonder if the garden shows are to blame. Maybe those HGTV types in OSHKOSH overalls and designer sunhats are just too perfect and fussy and make it all appear to be such a drag.

I plant a little garden every year, not a big deal garden, but just enough to share the food with a few family members and the deer. If I didn't plant a little extra for the deer, they'd take all of it. As it is now, we share. And I grow regular tomatoes, too. The pictures were taken when the tomatoes were green. They're mostly ripe now, except for a few.

Old Grain Mill

Kettle Creek Falls

 

Artificial water features are ever popular on HGTV but we favor the real ones. This tiny falls creates a melodious rush of soft sound when the spring rains come...

Triple Reds

 

Pink Dogwood

 
 

The Garden Gatekeeper

Snakes are part of the country life. Like this one, most are harmless. This one's fat, apparently having swallowed something large. I'd rather it was one of the ubiquitous moles (shrews, to the English) than the toads. The toads have become scarce due to environmental changes.

Peonies break through...

 

Early peonies are red when they break through the soil in spring. One bad thing about Peonies?...ants and beetles are atrracted to their sweet flowers. Some good things about Peonies? The deer don't like them very much. They have interesting foliage and large, bright blooms....

Signs of the Summer's End

 

A plant in the Allium or Onion group. These go to seed early but you don't pay attention because, at that point, you're in intense denial that the summer will ever end.

Forget Me Not

 

Forget Me Nots: tiny, compact, powerful.... and they come back every year!

 

The Hollyhocks are gone by late summer but, while the last, they offer some durable vertical structure to a horizontal landscape. They won't topple over if they're placed closed to a wall or supported by wooden stakes or structures. The bees like them, and so do the hummingbirds.

Lamb's Ears

Lamb's Ears: So-called because of the soft leaves and the shape when fully grown.

Astilbe

This plant is hardy, survives the cold Northeast winters, and returns each year. It's not very particular about the soil.

Tangle of Vines

The tree is living,
Strangled by A Hitchhiker
Or Embraced by a Close Friend
Who Won't Let Go

Blood Red Sky at Sunset

Mantis

Hitchhiker

The New English Daisies

 

I had second thoughts about this plant. It looked delicate. Turns out it was hardscrabble and determined to survive. It lasted well into the heat of deep summer.

The Bridle Wreath

 

Brief but beautiful...found somewhere along a roadside ditch and transplanted...

Bird Bath

 

Somewhere beneath the snow is a flower garden..