Houston, We Have A Problem!

???

Where'd they go?

It wasn't this guy, he was just walking by

and happened to end up in the wrong place

at the wrong time...

Besides, if it were he, he could only eat part of one,

and no shell.

~d~

It could have been her, but then, she don' eat shells...

And the shells would still be here, but they're not.

Now, this guy was seen hanging around, but his back was turned,

to say nothing about the fact that
he had left the scene long
before the dirty deed happened.
In the end, I am left to ask:


Who ?
Who did this to you?

In loving memory

sigh
Maybe the dingos ate my babies......

Well, What's this?

It looks like the stink bugs are back!

And once again

they did some partying.

Somebody left something behind when they went back

to where they had come from.

And now I am left

to tend the remains they left hanging around..

We'll be keeping track


of the developments

as they come along...

Join Us in our Reality~blog:

How the Stink Bugs grow.

rotation (flash)

What's next? Why....

Here come the spiderlings!

feel free to comment

Here comes the Sun! OK, 5 minutes of Sunshine

Just a quick note to change the top image in this blog, and to acknowledge the coming of Sol. The sun is awakening everything in our gardens, and right now, once again, we are commencing to search for those Euro SawFly larvae that should be appearing in a couple of weeks, now that our Mugos have put on their candles and needles are just about to grow. Our ornamental grass is happily attempting to cover everything in sight, soon to get a haircut. Everything is happy and growing well, except for the lavenders. They are still brown and look dead. Maybe they are.

Our Acer Japonica nishiki (above) is also coming alive and now starting to stretch her arms out, and will probably get a much needed beautification trimming in the coming weeks. I noticed yesterday, that her span has doubled since last year, though she hasn't grown too much in height, which is perfect for her tissue-y species. The image above, shows her with her pale leaf bracts still attached, a tinge of color to remind me of the red blood that courses through her veins, not to appear on the outside until Fall comes along. This image was taken 4/15/2010, and now 4/25/2010 she is in full leaf spread wearing bright lime green, and stretching about 5 feet from right to left, and only 20 or so inches in height, as she stands there proudly on her little hill.

~~0~~

Our red japanese maple has now set its leaves and is in full bloom. When one walks by, the sounds coming from the tree are amazing. It can sound as if there is an electrical line cut and flailing freely within the branches, ready to jolt anyone or any 'thing' that happens to get too close. Of course, this is all honeybee action while they busily grab their pollen from the red flowers that are almost invisible to see with the naked eye. Even the bees are hard to see unless one sits back to relax and contemplates things, because peace is what is needed for one to hear the action, and then to see it all come to life right in front of their eyes. This tree is so bright with the sun burning through it and the dark red contrasting impressions, it is hard to see anything else, including the bees that are having a ball here. At first I thought we were in the midst of a swarm, but that's not the case, it seems. These bees have places to go, they are employed. Literally.

~~~0~~~

Our Crape Myrtle is also in the midst of waking, soon to have lush green leaves, though it is currently still woody and chlorophyll doesn't seem to be as present in these first few baby leaf bract shoots.

~~~~0~~~~

Our lime green Porch bamboo (an unknown species) which at first glance appears to be a golden, but has long leaves that gracefully hang in downward arches, appears to be faking death here, but it is not dead...yet. It will be back very soon, as it is prolific in growth. When we used to live in the hills under the Douglas Fir canopy, this bamboo sat up on a handrail, its aerial roots (ok they're not really aerial roots, this plant tries to run a but, but we won't let it, so, to pay us back it sends out roots from every drainage hole. These roots one year wrapped around our deck handrails and started to grow leaves. However during the winter, being up on that handrail, the cold could reach places that normally would never be reached, and the complete bamboo would withdraw, receding into itself for preservation and protection from the cold, only to emerge the following spring. This is its state right now, new green shoots are starting to come out, so these brown leaves are going to have to go, very soon. Our goldens can be seen in the background, now about 12feet tall and still green from last year, weathering the winter's cold much better than this bamboo.

Ok, well that's it from our front yard, for now. I'll be shooting the Iris collection next. Our first 'one' is open now, bright sunny yellow in color. The remaining yellows which border the 2nd driveway, should be opening today or tomorrow if it stays sunny, the others are in various states of growth, and it will be fun to see which ones bloom, and what color combinations they show this year.

Dog Days of Summer

I was supposed to be watering the potted plants on the deck....... ★★★★★

Then I saw the sky above, below my dampened feet.

Then lo and behold, a fountain appeared


And the wind blew



and suddenly it all came clear.



Summer is running its course



Soon the Fall will be upon us.

And now, from the NE Pacific Inland Valley Region

Summer On The Famous Oregon Beaches

Oregon has really crowded beaches, and it is very difficult to find a place to lay one's blanket or towel in a nice and quiet area, without having a kid run by (with their dog) kicking sand all over as they try to catch an errant frisbee that sails past.

And now, a walk through the garden:

One of the causes of much angst, sniffling noses, itchy eyes, lumpy throats and for some of us; the need to keep the inhalers in the jacket pocket.

We decided to trim back one of our 4 huge photinias in order to shed some light on our deck, and to clear some room for our greenhouse that will soon be constructed there! The photinias were in full bloom, but 3 were left; much to the bees happiness and their need for pollination. Well, by then the 3 remaining photinias decided to pass out when the cutting started. The next morning there were leaves dropped all over the deck under all the photinias, as though they were crying for their newly shorn partner (now all wood).It will all happily grow back to crowd us once again. Just wait until it is time for all of them to get their trims, now that the flowers are spent and the bees happily off to a new flavored pollen.

Separating the backyard from the front yard.

Our Banks rose, now 3 years old.

This was a Father's Day gift for Danny, all growing from an 18" 1 gallon plant that Sarahbushka gave him. He planted it in one of those desert-dry strips of clay soil that extends along the edge of the driveway, next to our fence and directly in line with the gate when it is open. Ha, it never gets opened all the way, as it is an RV drivewayand opens the backyard to the frontyard, and we don't have an RV, so this gate has become a perch and a catwalk in which one of our kitties uses to view her world.

Our Banks rose, perhaps a little too close up.

Under the Veil

We even have a hidden Rhododendron, the best one we have. Our others are not nearly as pretty as this one who stays hidden under her green chiador of sorts only allows herself to be seen once a year.

A Hebe and a weedOur Happy Hebe.

We love Hebes. They are such a uniques group of plants, and I believe that most people ignore them as though the were some itchy juniper or a nondescript arborvitae. But if one looks at them up close and personal, expecially some of the larger leaved varieties, they might see some really interesting plant growth, like say, perfectly aligned and alternating leaves that grow in a beautiful pattern. These hebes are golden green and have a pretty growth pattern, then once a year, we get surprised with gorgeous little white flowers. This only happens when they are very happy.

Our now well known red Japanese Maple freshly laden with seed pods.

There is always that "one" the crowd

Some of our Bearded Irises.

The "Stand Out" in our crowd It's always interesting to see which of our bearded Irises
will bloom. It seems that every year our Iris patch has a new and varied display.

We didn't see the white and gold violet mix this spring. Our red/violet/gold ones also were quite shy. Our bright yellows always flourish, but this gold one (above) was a nice surprise mingled in with our violets and white/violet mixes.

The Ripening

Korean Dogwood - done to Medium rare

My birthday present from Sarahbushka this year is a Korean Dogwood.
In May, when I received it, the flowers were just barely opened, and they were green with little stamens and pistals showing. Later, they became almost pure white, just before they started to tinge with a bit of pink.

blushing

Korean Dogwood- done to medium

ripe

Korean Dogwood, well-done

my favorite variety of Violas

Thanks for walking through my yard with me today.