A Garden Update

Irene blew in here around midnight on Friday night and didn't leave until 6 pm on Saturday. She huffed and puffed and threw buckets of rain at us but thankfully we didn't even lose our electricity. We're 2 hours from the coast and were at the westernmost edge of this particular storm. My father-in-law is one county over got almost no rain at all.

Except for some vertically challenged Seashore Mallows and wind whipped morning glories, the plants were happy with the rain. DH has already staked the fallen down pepper plants and Candletrees (Senna alata).

See the cute little gray pony? She was still a little bit off at the last vet visit so they're still in the paddock out back. Better to keep an eye on them during the hurricane anyway.

I love Mexican Petunia for its height and its lovely
shade of purple. It will be a good companion for the Bidens.

This is the first year I've grown Snow-on-the-Mountain.

Next year I want to try out Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' too.

A glamour shot of 'Venice Blue' Morning Glory. From a distance the flowers look small and ghostly white since the blue fades quickly. I plan on cutting it back since it got so beat up by the tropical force winds.

The flower part of the vegetable garden looks like it's taking over the vegetable garden. Survival of the fittest. Some of the stuff will be transplanted out if it gets too much in the way though. Next year I want to grow sweet potatoes rather than regular potatoes. I like sweet potatoes better and they do very well in this area. Tobacco (less so than it used to be), soybeans, sweet potatoes and cotton are the main crops around here. I still haven't tasted the Marabar spinach but Gene has, sauteed, with olive oil and vinegar, and he likes it. (btw this picture was taken pre-Irene; the seashore mallows are lying down now.)

The Black Swallowtails have discovered the parsley and
the caterpillars have been munching it down happily.

Until the Bidens kick in the Brazilian Blue Sage and Four o'Clocks continue to dominate the big perennial bed. Brazilian Blue Sage makes the hummingbirds very happy. I have not even attempted to get any pictures of them they whiz about so quickly. The sage is their favorite even though I see them sampling all sorts of things, including the Blush Noisette that's sitting in a pot on the porch waiting to be planted out. One morning a female was either checking out her reflection in one of the porch windows or watching me at the computer. lol Not sure which but she sure was cute.

In the evenings the 4 o'clocks provide an ocean of fragrance as well as color. They are very sweet.

I love the dark pink ones.

Here's hoping for a peaceful September.