Summer happenings...flowers are blooming all over the place! We've had plenty of rain, so the show is excellent right now. This peony is new from last fall, 'Green Halo' from Song Sparrow Nursery , and I like it/don't like it. I mean, I like the green and white, and the general flower form, but I don't like the fact that in the catalog, it appeared to be a "bomb-type" white bloom with a green skirt. I emailed them, and the reply was that it will take a little time for the peony to display "fully mature" type flowers, and the picture in the catalog was of an incompletely opened bloom. So it's not going to be a big rounded bloom...but I wanted that, and I don't think it's fair to use a picture of an incompletely opened flower. Oh well, it's still pretty cool.......another mailorder plant, Echinacea 'Green Envy' from Spring Hill Nursery . Although I've had some mixed results from these folks in the past, I had a credit to use and this plant is vigorous and decent-sized. Cool!

Showy ladyslipper always starts with this fuzzy, egg-shaped bud........opening to the pretty pink slipper...
....bigger flower (and plant) this year. This was only purchased fall of 2006, and it bloomed the very next year. I bought it from a nursery called Raising Rarities , and being a blooming-size specimen, it was not cheap ($45).
But just look how pretty she is!! Now this tiny plant to the left is also a ladyslipper, the all-white showy ladyslipper. It was purchased just this spring as a tiny baby called a "pip"....
...and this one is another pip, a Kentucky ladyslipper orchid. Both of these infants are from Shooting Star Nursery , and as babies they were much less expensive. (Less than $20 each.) You can certainly imagine that blooms will not be forthcoming on these two for at least 3 years, so I guess it just depends how patient and/or frugal you are. Personally, I was too cheap to spend for the mature specimens of these two, since I already have the showy...
....and the yellow, seen here making seeds. But for instant gratification, I'd go with Raising Rarities, because they deliver! (And frankly, plenty of other nurseries charge closer to $100 for mature specimens.) Heh, the only reason I was ever brave enough to try and grow any of these was because the yellow grew and bloomed for me so well, after I purchased it for only $6 from Mellinger's in 2003, a mailorder nursery no longer in business. It may have even been wild-collected for that price, but I didn't know about such things back then, I just wanted to try and grow one because they are native up here. And it did take 3 years to grow to bloom size, even not emerging at all one year.

Blooms on my 'Luscious' snowy woolrush, a very cute little grass with fuzzy hairs on the leaves, and only about 5" tall......pretty iris mom gave me...

....annual New Guinea impatiens... ....I like the foliage and flowers both!
Japanese painted fern, overwinters in this aluminum pot every year. That's one tough cookie!
Hosta 'Christmas Tree', and this year my hostas are happily safe from the deer because of my diligent spraying program with Liquid Fence . This product works great against deer and rabbits, but there's one pest who's undaunted...

...slugs! Ack!! Creep!! This one got a toss into the river for fish food!The damage is definately noticeable...
....why the straight line? Buffet-style? Oh well, I won't get too riled up if it doesn't get any worse, but I may just have to break out the beer traps. (Seems like a waste of good beer, though...unless I pick up some "Red White and Blue" beer or something. It's like $2 a case! ;-)
The other day while visiting my son in Green Bay, he told me to pull into this church parking lot, and this is what we saw....
....this plant is enormous! I think it's a colocasia, but I've never seen one so huge! Very cool.
Here's my confused hellebore, blooming at the wrong time per the catalogs...
...but apparently the right time for him. Fine with me, buddy!
We've had plenty of rain lately, so I get to see lots of these.......making the river current wicked fast!

My mom gave me this strawberry begonia , and I like how the offshoot looks nothing like the parent, at least at first. Of course what would summer be without these babies? The stupid flash on my camera went off inside the car, so I got this glare...

....and my next attempt is her "parting shot" And as the sun goes down, mine too!


Happy 4th everybody!

Another blog award! Aw shucks...and thank you Cinj!! As she explained on her blog, the originator wasKathi , and the thought behind this award is: “This prize has arisen from the daily visits that I dedicate to many blogs which nourish me and enrich me with creativity. In them I see dedication, creativity, care, comradeship, but mainly, art, much art.” Thank you again! I'll display it proudly!

Creature Feature...I'm not referring to the old TV show, although this "evil space-rabbit" makes it look that way. That show was really cool, every Saturday night in the 70's I got to see the old classic horror films, like "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Blob", and all the old Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi movies. I think just about every state in the union had a version of this show, and ours in Indiana was hosted by Elvira after awhile. You can even watch a new version on the internet now. But I digress.... ...can you see who's hiding in this foliage? Just under the fern is a ruffed grouse, trying to blend in. Good job!
This little mourning dove was sitting on the deck railing so still, I thought she may have been injured or something...
....but as I stepped outside she was acting more wary and normal, so I left her alone. My friends, do you know what this is? This bird is a yellow-bellied sapsucker , and a very exciting visitor for me! I've never even seen one of these, so I got to add it to my "list". (Lots of bird-watchers keep lifetime lists of their bird sightings.) I was pleased as punch to see him enjoying the grape jelly I'd put out for the Baltimore orioles, so I'll leave this feeder up all summer for sure! (I usually take it down about now, once the orioles have moved on.) I've even seen the female rose-breasted grosbeak enjoying the jelly, so from now on, this feeder will be up all summer.

Here's somebody I don't see that often, the American toad. Kind of odd, becauseI used to see a lot of them in Indiana, but not up here. I have plenty of frogs, but fewer toads. This guy was as big as my hand, too. (Maybe he ate the others! :)
Mr. hummingbird, on his favorite perch. (I think he likes the vantage point, it allows him to efficiently police the feeder so he can run off interlopers. They're so territorial!)
And last but not least, this crowd was milling around as I drove to work this morning.......these are sandhill cranes, and although I see them regularly, I don't usually see a group this large past early spring. Maybe they're beginning their weekend party early....wish I could! Submitted to Friday Ark.

Orphan post rescue...after that meme, I feel like I talk too much, so I say it's time to rescue an "orphan post"...you know, when you start something and don't finish it. So here's some stuff from spring, because for me, it's all about the visuals. :)