Snapdragons that self-seeded underneath our serviceberry tree

An old picture of our Serviceberry tree back in May when it bloomed. It's also known as Amelanchier canadensis but serviceberry is easier to pronounce and it starts with S!
This was its 3rd year and its best so far. We had beautiful flowers followed by plentiful berries in June. They look a lot like blueberries but much more bland. They get a lot tastier if left on the tree a long time but that's almost impossible without netting and why fight with the birds over a few berries?

Kimberly

Hosta 'Stained Glass' (sorry about the light, it really is this bright)

Hosta 'Sum it Up'

Jen

Kimberly,
Your Serviceberry is lovely! I've had mine for about three years, and it still hasn't bloomed worth a darn, therefore no berries. It does, however, put on an excellent show in fall with its reddish leaves.

Jen,
As always.....your hostas are beautiful!

Julie

Julie,
Ours was just doing okay until last summer when my husband noticed that it was looking kind of sad, losing some leaves and others turning color early. We thought it might be having trouble establishing its roots because it is built on top of an old stump that my husband built the raised bed around. So I bought these fertilizer spikes that are supposed to help root systems by Viagro (or something like that, I remember thinking it sounded like Viagra). It really perked up so I did the same thing this spring and it really responded. Now that I think about it, I should do it one more time before fall.

Hope you enjoyed your "R and R". Did you expect your homecoming to be so wet? :)

Kimberly

Kimberly,

Might look into the fertilizer spikes - good idea!

R & R was great, but we also had rain everywhere (Northern WI). Did a lot of museum visiting. An interesting spot was the Paul Bunyan Logging Camp museum in Chippewa Falls. Learned that almost all of our Northern virgin Pine forests are gone! Boy, we Americans are sure wasteful! But on the good side, we've also re-planted Pines at such a fast rate that recovery is plentiful.

Was concerned when we left that my hanging pots would dry out, because I didn't arrange for anyone to water them. When we returned, our neighbors said rainfal was 8" during the time we were away.....all pots doing great!

Julie

'Snowtime' Chrysanthemum. Always blooms mid-August.

Julie

This is in my son David's garden. (His is in an old metal bucket, perhaps an old wash tub, and the other two kids have 1/2 whiskey barrels) There are two "Super Sweet 100" cherry tomato plants plus we planted some morning glories which I believe are "Crimson Rambler"

These are some strawberries that are taking over. Can you see the runners heading for the garage door? Unfortunately, due to the chipmunks, we rarely get to eat any of these!

And just to make you drool, Snickerdoodle cookies!

Kimberly

Kimberly,

What a great idea to get your kids interested in gardening - their own barrels!

I bet your cookies don't last long!

Julie

Julie,

It really does help. At least this way, they learn a few of the flower names. In the fall, they each get to pick out some bulbs to plant in the garden along with some pansies or violas for fall. Then after the bulbs are done in spring, we plant some annuals (marigolds, snapdragons, and petunias usually) along with the cherry tomatoes. They really love cherry tomatoes! The morning glories were a new touch. I started too many from seed and ran out of room in my usual spots. We also plant sugar snap peas in the spring that they enjoy eating fresh and "Diva" cucumbers because they are very thin-skinned so you don't have to peel them. Just pick when fairly small and munch!

Kimberly

P.S. No, the cookies didn't last very long at all!

I'm drooling. I haven't had a snickerdoodle in a long time.