Red Zinnia

I just love zinnias. They're so dependable, so "not picky," so able to survive slug attacks.

Sorry-Looking Hosta

Pity the poor hosta. It's been munched by slugs and crowded by hops this year. This plant came "with the house." I moved it to this location several years ago and it was traumatic. I dug it up with a shovel and chopped the tail off a salamander what was living under the plant. I felt just awful!

Morning Glory Variant

Interesting variant of the morning glory that snuck into my tomato bed.

Giant Sunflower

A giant sunflower peeking over the fence from my neighbor's yard. They actually had quite a few of these spectacular flowers, but all but this one broke off in one of our recent windstorms.

Spaghetti Squash

A lovely surprise - a spaghetti squash. The plants were none-too-happy this year with the squash bug invaders ruining many things, so how nice to see that one squash has made it. It will be ready to harvest when it turns a buttery yellow.

Mini Pumpkin

This is not a true mini pumpkin variety, just a really small pumpkin I found growing beneath a mass of silver tidal wave petunias.

Amaranthus is Starting to Fade

Amaranthus "Love Lies Bleeding." The dreadlocks of flowers are starting to fade. I'll clip some for flower arrangements, and leave the rest for winter birds, and for re-seeding, which this plant does liberally.

Mini Zinnias

These are mini zinnias I grew from a pack of "dollar store" seeds - 10 packs for $1, and they've served me well over the years.

A Cabbage Plant Popular with Slugs

An ugly spot in a garden bed. One of my cabbage plants is being devoured by slugs. The other three plants are slug-free....so far. If anyone knows of an environmentally-sound way to get rid of slugs, do tell!

Echinacea

I know quite a few people with colds right now, so here's my sorry-looking echinacea. This plant has struggled for a couple of years. I may move it to a sunnier spot.

Dainty Sunflower

This very small sunflower grew out of spilled birdseed. It's tiny!

One of the sweetest tastes of summer, and it's almost all over. These are thornless raspberries. I've noticed the trade-off for the thorns are smaller raspberry harvests. First hard frost date in Boise is usually the first week of October.

Crabapples Almost Ripe

This crabapple tree is bird food, not people food. When I was a kid, we used to try to eat crabapples, but they are so sour! I know some people make crabapple jelly - it takes a lot of sugar. Birds I see feeding on this tree, either the fruit or the bugs in the bark, and mostly in the winter and spring: starlings, blackbirds, robins, evening grosbeaks, finches, juncos, flickers, and downy-headed woodpeckers. It's a great show!

The "Volunteer Mystery Plant" is Bearing Fruit

Mystery solved...it's a pumpkin. A volunteer mystery plant showed up in my front yard, and although I did plant a pumpkin plant, it wasn't this one and not in this location. This plant had spectacular blooms, you can see one here.

Praying Mantis Garden Visitor

He/she didn't really want her picture taken - I rarely see a praying mantis in my yard or garden. This one took my by surprise.

Pretty Yellow Flower

This flower looked striking this weekend. It's an annual, and I can't remember what it is. Too bad, because I'd plant it again.

Bees Love Oregano, Too

Another plant just for the pollinators. I rarely clip any oregano for cooking, the dried oregano is actually more powerful.

Bees Love Lavender

Plenty of plants in my yard are there really just for the pollinators. I have several lavender plants just for that reason. I've tried cutting the flowers and bringing them inside to enjoy, but they're just too strong-smelling for me.

Hibiscus - Crazy Big Flowers

This is a hibiscus, I just have no idea what kind because it "came with the house." It blooms very late summer - the leaves don't even come out of the ground until July. The blooms are as big as dinner plates. And each bloom only lasts one day.

One of My New Roses

Isn't this a yummy looking rose? It's one of my new roses. My step mother sent me five new plants last fall and this one is my favorite. I can't recall the name at the moment, but I do have it marked - I just forgot to look after bringing in the photos.

Uninvited Morning Glory

Two years ago, I planted a couple of morning glory seeds - and now I fight them every year. I was determined not to let any grow in my cherry tomato garden bed this year, figuring they would choke the tender plants. I paid my daughter and her friend 25 cents every time they weeded - pulled up the seedlings. And then I was picking tomatoes and saw that one escaped. Well, as long as it's just one. It is pretty.

Jeepers! Two Creepers

The vine coming over the fence is Virginia Creeper. Some people think it's a pesky vine, but I like it. I like things that cover up our ugly fence. The hanging basket is full of petunias and Creeping Jenny. I like to tuck Creeping Jenny in my baskets and pots. It comes back each year.

Cantaloupe

I love the milder green color of the cantaloupe leaves. The vines seem so polite compared to the squashes. This, like the Japanese eggplant, is from a friend's garden. I've never tried cantaloupe, although I have some seeds and may give it a chance next year. It needs a lot of room - maybe its own garden bed. We ate one of these cantaloupes last night - it was so much better than what you get at the grocery store, simply amazing.

Japanese Eggplant

This is not my garden, it's a friend's. This is Japanese eggplant. The fruit is long and slender, and much sweeter than regular eggplant. Plus the plant doesn't have big thorns on the fruit like regular eggplant does. No need to peel these, just slice them and saute. I also like to throw them into a salad. If you are going to cook eggplant, remember to give it a little saltwater bath first, otherwise, it turns icky brown when cooked.

Volunteer Sunflower

Hmm...obviously, a sunflower - although I didn't plant it. I do welcome it, though and wish I had planted some sunflowers this year. My neighbor did and they're over 8 feet tall. This is a smaller variety of some sort. It's got some pink on it.

Cherry Tomatoes

Precious cherry tomatoes. The surprise tang of salads. And the star of my cherry tomato salsa. These plants I grew from seed. I have 10 plants and although it's been a late growing season, I finally have plenty of fruit to make salsa. Although, the next batch may be a while coming, we've had a cold spell and a touch of frost on the rooftops.

Mish-Mash of a Garden Bed

This is the corner of one of my garden beds. Everything is growing nicely and crowding into each other. There's lavender, three kinds of zinnias, basil, tickseed (coreopsis), and a small hops vine that is not welcome. I used to have hops against the fence. I dug them out this year because they were too aggressive. They throw runners and re-seed. I'm still battling seedlings.

Orange Rose and Peach Rose

I chose this rose for my yard because of the color, it doesn't have much scent. My poor roses this year. I was out of town, actually out of the country, during the whole early spring season, so they didn't get their regular TLC. They have survived just fine, but I notice the leaf colors aren't quite the same. Below is what the blooms on this plant look like after a few days of their glory - they fade to peach. This rose is a continual bloomer.

Cucumbers

One my of daughter's favorites thing packed in her lunch. A peeled cucumber. She eats them like bananas. Some people complain that cucumbers raised at home often taste bitter. I've find the "cure" is to work some high quality manure fertilizer into the soil at planting time. Or, I'm just lucky and they never taste bitter. These are also plants grown from seed.