My Kinda Place

Recently I traveled to Taos, New Mexico with my mom to visit my niece. Of course I took alot of photos, and a good majority of them are garden related, and some are just devastatingly beautiful scenes, so I course I had to share them with you because you, as I, have vivacious garden appetites, and we must be fed. Today's menu consists of lots of greens and rustic architecture.

This old house sits on the main street of Taos, and it is a familiar icon to all who have lived there. I lived in Taos about 20 years ago and this house was vacant then, and it still is today.

Can you see the rocks along the top of the front wall?

Take a moment here. Notice the shades of green, the shingles and the motif on the gable of the garage, the construction of the garage doors, the detail of the fence, the lattice under the screened porch and the shadow of the trees on the roof.

Can you see the rocks place along the roof line, and the fence detail and all of the different colors of green paint for the fence, patio, and outbuilding's doors and trim? They are all different shades of green.

It's my kinda place.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Color Chaos and Sprawl

Every once in awhile I take a photo that is my absolute favorite. This one is perfect for the Chaos Series.

The Armenian Cucumbers are amazing! I have picked about 15 and there are currently 7 forming on the vine. It is wonderful to have something grow that is extremely prolific. I want to shout from the rooftops, but nobody would get me.....

Don't you want to pat the left cheek of this sunflower with reassuring words so that it will fatten up? I love sunflowers. Some are starting to hang downwards as big black flower heads.

I am curious about the Pickling Cucumber vine to see how large it will become. There are 6 plants huddled together and I have picked 2 Cucumbers already. I am saving them to make more pickles in the next few days.

The Green Machine Melon is all over the place. It is growing up the wall lattice, up the sunflowers and Plum tree, and rambling down the path. I will miss this dense green look in the winter. Chaos will fade away and everything will become tidy and the path will be seen again. Or not....... I haven't deadheaded some of the flowers, because it is like a bookmark of where they were not long ago and they still catch the moonlight.

Here are the Ornamental Gourds escaping the bed and trying to get at my feet. You should see the vine supports this thing throws out. They are about a foot long on this one plant. Maybe it's been genetically crossed with a catfish!

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Black Eyed Susans

This is my favorite area in the garden right now, where the Black Eyed Susans, Echinacea and Zinnas sway in the breeze beneath the Sunflowers.

I love Black Eyed Susans. They remind me of back home in Missouri where I grew up. These Black Eyed Susans are from seeds that I planted last year. Which reminds me.... I had wanted to plant Forget-Me-Nots which bloom in January, so maybe I should broadcast seed for those someday soon.....

Here are the Cucumbers, Squash and Melon spilling over the walkway. I have harvested 2 Scallop Ssquash and 2 Green Machine Melon off of the plants in the corner. The Pickling Cucumber in the foreground has Cucumbers forming so I will let you know how they are doing in upcoming posts.

The more recent garden design changes include removing some rock and creating more pathways. This area leads to the water hose, greenhouse and side gate. Someday there might not be any 3/4" granite back here, but it's 112 degrees out lately so it's small moves in the earthwork department.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

All the Best

I am calling this post all of the best and here is the reason why. I have been gone for an extremely long time, and I want to share the most awesome photos that I have collected as I still do take about a handful of photos a day, but I have been busy reading recipes for preserving the garden harvest, and obviously a myriad of other things, but apparently they didn't amount to much because I can't remember their significance in the whole scheme of things.

So perhaps busy isn't always best..... But I do really enjoy this photo of the Copper Dragon Fly solaring up in the warmth of the morning sun and wanted to share this with everyone.

Here is the perfect effect of the Morning Glories and they are all that I imagined that they would be.

The Red Canna from the Master Gardener's giveaway is more than expected! Perhaps the person who brought them in needs to drink more coffee so that they are more excitable and explenitive in their decriptions...... Just Red Canna had me thinking, well.....you know.

The Tomatoes have been a delight to pick everyday. They are starting to fade off and I am okay with it. I froze some in a gallon bag and made salsa and pasta sauce, and we have been eating them everyday, so all is fine by me.

The Armenian Cucumbers are in the midst of things. This is the fifth one harvested so far, and it will go into the pickle jar. The other half went into the salad last night. They are spectacular and recommended to me by Leslie Doyle last year. They will become a Black Mountain Garden standard.

So this is how the Armenian Cucumbers are presented in the garden. If you double click the photo, you will be able to pick out a few handing on the vine.

The Green Room is alot of fun to walk through and you can see the corn on the left which has grown tall and has produced ears. The white flowers in the center on the right are Lime Basil and they are quite lovely and I totally love the effect. I want to grown Lime Basil as a ground cover next year.

Here is a closeup of the corn before I picked them. I didn't know when to pick the corn, but if you wait too long the sugars change and they are no longer at their tasty best.

And I had no idea when that was...but either way they are sure beautiful. These are the prettiest corn in my little world, and I am going to let them dry. I remember all of the colored corn hanging from the lattias in one of the adobes at the Pueblos de Taos Indian Reservation in Taos, New Mexico. It made falling over the furniture really quite enjoyable and a remarkably, memorable experience. This one is for "Up the Hill" Susan. I miss you girl. Are you still just as wild as I remember? (Nobody could grow colored corn like Susan!)

Thanks for visiting! To all of my colored corn loving gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

OM

Hands in mudra, hands in prayer, the Sunflower's perfect Sun Salutation.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, happy 4th of July!

One for Chaos

It is suddenly extremely hot and many of the plants have singed tips. I ramped up the water hopefully enough to stay off the increase in temperatures. We shall see.......

The Morning Glory are starting to come on with vigor.

The Echanacea are enjoying the heat.

The contrast of purple with burnt orange is striking and and all I can do is react with startled fondness.

This one is for you!

This photo belongs in the Chaos Series and that is surely where it will go.

No squash yet on the Turk's Turban, just flowers.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Balance Will Be Restored

Alot of time has passed and it seems like time is going way too fast or there is essentially no time whatsoever. But it is time to back up a bit and post the recent going's on so that at least I can take it from here. So let's start with the Iris Bed which has been re-worked. All of the Hottentot has been removed and I found it to be really healthy, and stealing the health from everything in it's way. So because it wasn't behaving "neighborly", I booted it right out of the garden! In it's stead I planted this Cape Plumbago and about 40 Daffodils that came from the Community Gardens up in Boulder City. They had to be relocated as they were incidently excavated when trying to get rid of the Sun Chokes that had completely overtook a section of the community gardens. I have had the opportunity to experience about three different plants that should be banned from community gardens, Sun Chokes (Jeruselum Artichokes), Mexican Primrose, and Mint.) The bed that I am working on up at the Boulder City Community Gardens has all three planted in it and I feel fortunate in a wierd twisted way to have been able to reconquer that bed from the clutches of havok. But get this! In my enthusiasm, I neglected to take a before photo! Oh well... you will just have to use your imagination.

But back to Black Mountain Garden, the Main Bed is a flourish of many plantings hidden by the vigor of the items in the mid-ground. There are Lemon Cucumbers inside there along with a Zucchini which I don't think is very happy, but the Sunflowers are happy, or at least they make me happy......

The Shaded Bed is not in the shadows mid-day only in the morning and evening which is unusual, but it is planted with Corn and a few Tomatoes and Ornamental Squash planted to drape over the front, then the walkway will have to be abandoned or at least carefully manuveured.

The Catnip is flowering and there are Pickling Cucumbers planted to the left, with Coriander that needs to be harvested and I actually planted Green Giant Melon seeds in the pot too, to take over and cascade out of the pot and rest on the carpet of Catnip because that is just way to much Catnip, so I will cover it with something, then balance will be restored.

Here is the Green Room which is the Green House that is designed to be completely covered with vines. It is planted with Green Beans and Lime Basil with Armenian Cucumbers that are starting to climb up the mesh. There is another piece of mesh as part of the design which I will put up shortly. The Corn is in flower and it is beautiful. I haven't grown Corn before so it is a real treat to learn about it's nuances.

The Armenian Cucumber flowers are abundant. They are vivacious. So with that, may you all find vivaciousness in your gardens!

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!