The Suspense is Killing Me

I love it when the butterflies drink from the butterfly bush. It's very charming.

We have lots of cute little beets humming along.

 
This was a shock:

I had no idea that two zucchinis are done. But there they are. They've grown four inches in two days.

The tomatoes are so close, and there are so many of them on some plants. I want to have friends over for Caprese every day.

The cayennes look fabulous; they're just getting some finishing size and color, I imagine.

And I have this cute wildflower in my yard...I love the cute little random bird-gifts and preschooler-gifts.

Quick, Real-Time Update

I'll be editing this as I go.

• There's poison ivy by the deck. My holster of Round-Up is ready.
• There's evidence of tomato worms in garden 3, including an amazing moth that fluttered over to the deck. Tomato worms are fascinating, but I'm probably going to permanently make them leave also. I'm not equipped to do that yet.

Notice Anything Funny?

This is the south side of garden 3, the large vegetable garden. Yes! It needs to be weed-whacked badly. See anything else funny here?

I trimmed the grass and weeds a little. Do you see anything now?

Several green bean seeds escaped and headed south to Mexico. They made it one inch of the way before the burden of maturity took hold.

I also have a Stargazer Lily bloom holding on for dear life (and another getting ready to open soon). Yes, we finally got some much-needed rain today.

And my assistant and I finally planted some cilantro in both garden 2 and garden 3. I have not successfully achieved cilantro plants in the past; I hope these seeds become huge, healthy plants.

Pretty Things

Pretty Things

Stargazer lilies. They smell like bacon. What more can you say?

The cayenne peppers are so close to ripeness that you can almost feel your mouth burn.

And there are lots of tomato blooms, which pleases and excites me. I'm so ready to make caprese, panzanella, chili, and cuban beans and rice.

American Dove

It's a Green, Red, Christmasy Fourth

Happy Independence Day! Garden Insanity loves all things America, American, and Americana.

Here are some of today's views.

The hibiscus was a housewarming gift many years ago from my husband's aunt and uncle. I'm very pleased with how well it's done in Michigan (it winters inside). These are its first blooms this year.

We gave it some extra dirt and a lot of water.

It always is very thirsty.

In garden 2, we have a few new sprouts; I think they're green beans.

We found today's requisite lucky clover.

The tomatoes are doing beautifully.

The cayenne peppers continue to do well, and their current color and configuration remind me of Christmas. Spicy, delicious Christmas. It will be like Christmas when get to put some of these peppers in our burritos.