Okay, just two more....entries for Stuart's contest, "Quirkiest Planter" Contest, because I cannot help myself! Any other takers? Well, you need to hurry-the contest ends at midnight tomorrow! First is the old enalmelware bedpan, because working in medicine you must have a sense of humor (at times, just to get through the day!) Planted with lavender this year, and some little funky fungus-type stuff I found (for a tad more color)... ...then the old washer, which was by the road with a "free" sign-so of course I could not resist! For the first couple years, I tried perennials in here, surmising that it would be "insulated" enough that they would winter over okay. Um...no....so annuals (in this case yellow tomatoes) are the tenants. So wish me luck, unless you are competing against me, in which case we wish each other luck! :)

Incarcerated perennials....ever notice that some plants are routinely devoured by various garden thugs no matter what you do? I have great results from using Liquid Fence to repel deer and rabbits, but sometimes they find a plant too irresistable regardless. Not to mention leaf cutters, grasshoppers, and other pests that evidently cannot smell. I think even the foot traffic from various animals can be detrimental to certain plants, too...especially seedlings. So I put them in jail! Much as I dislike the look, the results are worth it. Any cage will do, like this one from an old freezer-it's covering my 'Fernleaf Peony' that's just a tiny thing so far. Sometimes I'll use a wire corral to protect a small tree from assault until it's big enough to defend itself, like this little japanese maple.

This tradescantia, 'Sweet Kate', is a favorite with hungry plant maulers, even though they ignore all my other varieties of widow's tears (do they know this one cost more?) The other day, she was about to bloom and looked cramped, so I freed her to do her thing....
...the next day I found this.....crap! Back to jail she goes! Even this young green ash tree gets picked on. I want it to be sucessful by the water here, as I read that waterfowl like to eat the seeds. So until it reaches a more substantial size, solitary confinement is in order.

And here I'm using wire to keep out debris, mainly large oak leaves, cuz' they cover the soil surface in the planter and are a pain to remove. This will keep my chipmunks from rooting around and burying stuff too, which usually isn't a real big deal, but the planter area in this trellis just isn't that big.

I think this morning glory will grow up thru this wire just fine...
...added clematis'My Angel', put a daylily and hosta in front to keep the clematis roots cool, and now they can do their thing unscathed! This hard-to-see grass was rescued just in the nick of time! Bunnies ate it down to nothing, but now I see life-*whew*! I forget the name, but it's some sort of variegated Japanese sedge, and now it gets a second chance at life. Sometimes, jail is a very good thing! Right Paris?

Misadventures in bonsai...despite my initial enthusiasm, my first two bonsai projects did not fare so well...can you tell how crispy-dry these poor victims are? There's another one I wintered over outdoors that's near-death also...*sigh*. And while I plan to take up this hobby in ernest eventually, for now I'll be content with "half-assed" outdoor bonsai projects like this lilac. Keeping it potted is helping to make it small, and if I don't commit to any root pruning, then the watering needs will stay manageable for my space-cadet "care" skills! I wired the stems for a "windswept" look, and it's been like this for 2 years now. Recently I read on a bonsai site somewhere that you can "trick" the plant into producing smaller leaves if you actually cut the leaves in half. So...

...I did, and it seems to be working!

Not satisfied with this apparent sucess, I decided to trim the remaining leaves even smaller....

...then I removed the suckers, inspected the wires to be sure they aren't binding....okay! So for now, this is as bonsai as I'm getting!

Funky yard art...most people seem to have at least one item of decoration in their yards that could be considered "art", or "kitsch", or just plain junk...well here we have examples of all three...first, I'll call this menagerie "kitsch"-simply because there are 4 statues all together in the same spot, and I think they look pretty funny...
...but this guy by himself, I think he's cool...and more than a little scary!


Then we have art...like this "Lochness monster" made from old farm machinery...
...and this flower bouqet, also crafted from various metal parts (sorry it's blurry)...very creative, don't you think?I'd also like to call this art-I made it last year at a local gardener's conference-very fun!

But this here planter is definately junk...but hey, these tomato plants don't mind!

Presenting Showy Ladyslipper Orchid!! She started out with this unassuming foliage...

....with a hint of flowerbud peeking out...
....working on a kind of strip-tease here...
....and here she is! Ta-da!! I just bought this last fall from http://www.raisingrarities.com/ , and although it cost $45, I still didn't expect this kind of performance! And look at the color on the interior of the pouch...kind of reminds me of a reverse-painted lamp, with the muted colors showing through from the underside.

But wait! Do my eyes decieve me, or is there another bud emerging above this flower? The show may not be over yet, after all! Hooray!!

They all come out at night...the tree frogs, that is! To be more specific, hyla versicolor, a.k.a. Grey Tree Frog , and I'm lucky enough to be rife with them! They hide behind my thermometer... ...and this hanging pot sporting "dreads"...
...and even in this birdhouse! Hey, I'm glad somebody is using it!


Then as darkness falls, they begin to peek out and start calling...
....and answering...

.....and of course bug catching by the garage light! Chow down, friends!

Micro-mini coral bells...so here's a mystery that has me stumped. Some of my coral bells are growing smaller every year! Like 'Prince' here...

...and this one, 'Stormy Seas'...more like "Stormy Mud Puddle"! In trying to figure out what's wrong, I feel certain it's not over-crowding or competition.......cuz' look how well this one is growing! This is 'Eco-Magnifolia', crowded in with geranium 'Sambor', a daylily, and plenty of weeds! Thus far, my solution has been to pot up the "mini's", and after a season or two... ...they get bigger in the pots, until I feel they're large enough to go back "out into the world"...
...like this one. Planted out but not crowded, this coral bell, 'Patricia Louise', was a former "refugee" in a pot, and now looks great! Anybody else have a similar experience? I'm glad to have come up with an answer, but I'd still like to know what the question was!

"We're havin' a heatwave, a tropical heatwave...." big time! Temps have been in the 80's for the past week with no relief or rain in sight! The weatherman says it's "unseasonably warm for Wisconsin in June" (no shit?!)....so I'll be running the sprinkler all weekend. Just got a few more plants on impulse, not including the stuff I already had to plant-yikes! What was I thinking? (I ask myself this every year about this time, too....learning curve's too steep apparently ;-) This sedum is digging the weather, but look at the poor tomato plant to it's immediate left-drooped over so far it's almost unrecognizable!And this houseplant is hating me right about now...
...so is this basket of annual something....(forgot the name, tag's at home)... ...and look at my poor Rex begonia! It was cruel enough that I put it out to sunburn, but I think this extreme heat may be it's demise. I sure wish I had my own personal cloud to call in and summon rain from...yea....that would be good! I'll let you all know how that goes..... :)

Blooms for Wednesday bloom day....seems I'm always late for this, but anyhow...geranium 'Sambor'...
....annual...either new guinea impatiens or some sort of begonia (I get confused between the two sometimes and the tag is at home)...pretty nonetheless....
....deptford pink wildflower.......and this sassy salvia sticking its tongue out.....
....and finally dianthus. Not sure exact cultivar, but I got it from my mom, who just calls it "pinks". I love the blue foliage, and this lil' grasshopper seems to dig the flowers. Yay for summer!