Pretty Flowers

I wanted to get some pictures of my flowerbeds. They have done so beautifully this year.  I was afraid we might be heading for another bad drought but then the rains started and everything has just taken off growing. :)

Rufus came out and was kind enough to pose for my pictures.

Pretty Flowers

Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; 

and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; 

how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Glory of the Morning

Well, the pictures cannot do these flowers justice but I had to try.  With all the rain we've finally had, my morning glories decided they would bloom this year afterall.  Many of the flowers are kind of double ruffled, with a little flower inside the big one.  They are a purple color with a rich royal blue undertone, I've never seen a color like this in any other flower, it's almost electric.  I'm excited!

Gee!

For many years I have wished for a gnome for my garden but I just couldn't seem to get one of the little buggers to move in. For years Jason has had to listen to me lament my un-gnome-iness. I was finally beginning to accept the idea I may never have a garden gnome in my life.
Then one day last week, in the late afternoon, my doorbell rang. I opened the door and glanced out, but nobody was there. I looked down and standing on the doorstep was the coolest gnome ever! I caught a glimpse of movement and noticed Jason hiding around the corner, laughing.


The cool gnome has moved onto our porch and I have named him Gee. He's my Gee gnome!
Yep, you got it, pronounced jee-nome. :)
I was laughing with the kids about my Gee gnome as I took them to school the next morning. That afternoon Katie returned home all excited to tell me that very day in science they had discussed DNA and genomes! Can you imagine the look on her teacher's face when Katie told her that her mama keeps her Gee gnome on the front porch?
These poor kids don't stand a chance, do they!

Limey!

I found these really cool petunias at the greenhouse this weekend. I've never seen this color combination before.

A Dollop of Sunshine

Near the end of November, on a cold and blustery day, my daylily decided to bloom. The little bugger must have plenty of sunshine in his heart.

Black Hollyhocks

These are the hollyhocks I planted close to the house (NOT by the horses).

The great Hollyhock Massacre

I went out this morning to water my garden. The heat had backed off just a little and there was a slight breeze moving the humid air. It was quite pleasant. In fact, if I closed my eyes I could almost convince myself I was standing near the coast feeling the morning fog burning off.
As I walked down the driveway I glanced over to the little corner at the far side of the yard and saw:
Now, to the untrained eye, it might look like just a nice little ordinary corner of the yard.
But with my level of expertise I immediately noticed that something was awry.
Something definitely missing in this picture.
There should be bushes in that corner. Tall stalks of hollyhock bushes.The ones I planted there last year and have been babying for months. The hollyhocks that had rows of big buds just days away from bloom.

Bushes just like these!














But there were no hollyhock bushes in the corner of my yard, just a big empty space.



















What happened?! Bushes don't just get up and walk away! (Well, maybe in San Francisco they do but I'm not in San Francisco am I!)

They were so close to blooming. I was so excited. I have wanted to grow black hollyhocks for so many years.
But there will be no hollyhock blooms in the corner of my yard this year
because there is a pasture just behind the corner of my yard and living in that pasture is one of these:













and one of these:
















and so I have
.

My Begonias