In the Garden this Week.

G and I seperated out a clump of these daylilies 3 years ago, we planted most of them but had so many that we couldn't find places for all of them. We were so tired of digging holes that we didn't even bother to plant them, we just sat them on the ground. They lived and thanks to Toby's viligent watch over our yard they actually got a chance to bloom this year.

Not much inside the greenhouse this time of year but I love

the look of Terra Cotta and just had to snap this photo.

Red verbena, it will be many times this size by the end of the season.

These started off as one very tiny division I was given about 6 yrs. ago.

I divided it about 3 yrs. ago and this is what I got. G keeps promising me a shade house.

If I ever do get that shade house I am going to divide some of these and pot them

up to sell at the market.

We were living in Florida when I brought the parent plant to this hydrangea home and asked G to plant it he asked "Why? it's nothing more than a dead stick". I told him to just trust me. Many people don't understand the difference between dead and dormant.

The stick only looked dead but was actually dormant.

I gave my mom a division from the parent plant and she planted it at her house. That was almost 25 yrs. ago. About 3 yrs. after we moved here to NC I got a division from her and planted it here. So in a sense that dead stick has traveled 500 miles and 3 states from where it first started. That's pretty good for a dead stick, don't ya think.

I like the way no two are the same color. Sometimes one

bloom head will have several colors together.

My coneflowers are just beginning to open.

Gaillardia just beginning to open.

Gaillardia's common name is indian blanket.

This plant was labeled Gaillardia but as you can see it looks nothing like one. I'm not sure what it is but the color is striking. This pic doesn't do it justice, it's is actually a deep copper. I'm kind of glad it was mislabeled because it's not a color I would have knowingly chosen and I would have missed out on it's amazing richness.

The neighbors lilac myrtle hangs over our fence. It always blooms

so beautifully. I am not so lucky with myrtles.

These are some of the asiatic lilies I have planted along the

back of the house. They too are just beginning to bloom.

Found this fellow on the sidewalk behind the house. Not exactly sure how he got there but I'm thinking that Toby the dog had something to do with it. I looked him over but found no injuries but he was being very still for a large such a large frog.

I picked him up and took him down to the pond in our back yard, I had to hold him with both hands like a Burger King Whooper, he was that huge. Then I brought Toby inside for the rest of the day so the poor guy could find his way to where he was going without the interference of a curious dog.

Finding frogs in our pond says a lot for the quality of the water because frog are very sensitive to the eco systems where they live. They can't live in polluted water. It amazes me that our pond will support frogs considering it is surrounded by 14 houses most of which use some kind of lawn chemicals.