garden notes

This is the view out my kitchen window since the sunflowers at the side of the house bloomed.

I tie the tallest ones to the lattice with fishing line so that they don't fall over.

These terra cotta wine bottle plant nannies have been fabulous in the potted plants out the side in the sunny driveway this summer.  I also have one stuck into my biggest pot of impatiens out back. I got them at my local Armstrong Garden Center a couple months ago. They seem to be sold out everywhere now, but I've heard the supplier will have them back in stock at the end of August.  If you live somewhere hot and your plants need more than a daily water, or if you forget to water sometimes or are going on vacation, I really recommend them. (When they're instock they're available on Amazon.)  The clay keeps the roots moist.  I've seen other types that take two-liter soda bottles, but the green glass wine bottles don't look as ugly in the plants, I think.

These little tomatoes seem to ripen at a rate of two or three each day. I pick them and rinse them with the hose and eat them for a morning snack, because nobody else wants any. (Philistines.)  

They are so sweet and so good.

I bought this little house up at Cambria last year, and Claire and I planted Irish moss around it.  We have some more little accessories to add but haven't gotten around to it yet.  It's our fairy garden.

The morning glory seeds we planted in the spring have bloomed.  In the shade, they stay open well into the afternoon.  (I plant them in a pot, because they'll take over the garden if thrown around uncontained.)

And out front, the phlox have bloomed, too. They smell so good. They are my favorite part of the midsummer garden every single year.