The Eensy-Weensy Spider

This image shows the underside of an Orb Weaver Spider (that happens to be missing a back leg) - and while not so eensy-weensy - it's actually considered a "good" spider as it traps and eats garden pests such as flies, beetles, and mosquitos. Found this one setting up shop on our honeysuckle vine.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Happy 'sunnies' for a Sunday. Each year I grow a row of dwarf and hybrid sunflowers in the back of our veggie garden to use for bouquets throughout the summer.  Most of the plants reach anywhere from 4 to 6 feet tall.  However, this giant sunflower stalk was a "volunteer" in the middle of the garden this year and topped out at over 12 feet!  It looks somewhat shorter here because the multiple sunflower blooms were weighing it down a bit. The Goldfinches are in heaven!

Pucker Up!

Dill is in season and our garden is loaded with it.  We dry the wispy green fronds to use as an herb in cooking and salads all year long.  Chopped fresh dill is also amazing sprinkled on baked cod or sole. It adds a wonderful bright, tart flavor to the dish.

Fresh dill is also what we use when making anything pickled - especially "Wild Bill's Dilly Beans"! - which are a combination of tender green and yellow beans from our garden.  Great used on a relish tray or in a cocktail. The delicate blooms (shown above) remind me of little Sputnik satellites, and will also eventually yield dill seeds.

Secret Garden

During my morning walk in Sister Bay, I passed this old-fashioned patriotic garden with pretty flowers of all varieties and colors, along with a few pots of tomatoes, lettuce, and other veggies as well!

Clematis Bloom

I've been playing around with "Instagram" features recently and liked how this one turned out.  It's a clematis flower bloom from our patio.  The vine is doing quite nicely this year. Happy Summer!

Hibiscus

The oppressive heat has been good for at least a few things around here - one of them being our coral hibiscus.  (As long as I remember to water it once - sometimes twice - per day.)

Hot Stuff

Summer is officially just around the corner here in Wisconsin, but with today's temps predicted to reach into the 90's, I think we're already there. At least this potted ranunculus bloom seems to love all this hot weather.

Virginia Bluebells

We have a small patch of Virginia Bluebells back in our tree line that come up every spring. They are finally in bloom! Bluebells (also called the Virginia Cowslip) are a perennial plant native to North America.

Amaryllis Redux

I know I've already posted images from my amaryllis plant earlier in the month, but the blooms of the second stalk are even more dazzling than the first, so I just had to share. As previously noted, I ordered a bulb from a girlfriend last fall who bought a package of a dozen from an online source. They were all mixed up and so we had no idea what color they might be. I potted it indoors in early November, and according to the directions, it was supposed to bloom by Christmas. No such luck. It only had a few inch-high leaves & looked like it would never grow.

By mid-January, suddenly several stalks shot up seemingly over night. The first foot-tall stalk had two flowers, but this one has four (!) dinner-plate sized blooms. There is a third stalk in the wings & hopefully, that will be just as spectacular.