In the Garden this Evening. . .

Camelias are blooming already.

I should have more ginger blooms by now, but the squirrels did their damage. There quite a few buds, so I should see more soon.

My Kind of Pest Control

I'm totally fascinated watching this guy in the garden.

Signs You've Neglected the Garden Too Long

Plants try to take things into their own hands.

The spiders start thinking they own the place.

There are trees growing out of the compost pile.

Recent Flowers

Yep I'm still here! I'm still gardening too. I've just been a bit, err, pre-occupied. Oh well. Here is what has been blooming in the garden:

The cannas have been doing very well this year, despite the leaf-rollers.

The front garden has done especially well. It attracts multitudes of butterflies, and reportedly a few hummingbirds as well, although I haven't seen them yet.

This is an iris from the front garden.

The Globba Ginger managed to avoid the squirrels and blooming nicely - yay!!

September is when the weather cools in this area and the garden and the gardeners start to perk up. I've got some big projects planned soon!

Once Bitten . . .

I was just outside for 10 minutes. Now I count 18 bug bites, and one more the size of a quarter on my forehead.

A Letter

I just wrote this to a local nursery that has gotten too big for its britches - locals will probably know exactly which one. I don't do this sort of thing often, but I know we read these at my work, so maybe it will do some good.

Hello -

I'm writing about an experience I had last Sunday. I went in looking for Bt, a common organically approved pesticide. I was the only one in the store, and went to find an associate who was insisting you did not have it. She walked over to the pesticides, said "Nope, nothing like that here" and tried to give me some harsher chemical options. As soon as she left I found it under Bacillus thuringienisis. I'm writing this because this is the second or third time I walked into this store asking about organic products and have been looked at like have 3 heads. This is becoming a big issue for gardeners, and working with associates who are very informed and can even recommend organic products and native plants would make many of us devoted customers. Since this store has the reputation of being a local place with all the warmth and selection of a big box store, I think developing this niche would be beneficial in the current economic climate. Hope this helps - I don't like being the only one in the store!

BTW: Bt worked beautifully on the leaf-rollers.

This is so cool . . .

Found it here.

I've Been on Vacation.

I've been hanging out on the Gulf of Mexico, enjoying fireworks by the beach.

Hope to be hanging out in the garden tomorrow.

OMG!!!! I NEED THIS!!

Has anyone used this product? I NEED it!!! (They even have a blog!)

Buggin' Out

My cannas are doing very nicely.

So I was terribly annoyed when I went out and saw the below:

Canna Leaf Roller!

Grrrrrr!

But not all of the bugs in the yard are bad:

This little guy has been busy! Bugs that eat bugs are the best!

Don't get me started on the mosquitoes. . .