Flower Photo Day

Thank you, everyone, for the awesome comments on the Tomato Tart recipe.  It went over way better than I thought it would.  I'd love to hear how it was if you made it and any variations you may have done.

I haven't been doing that much cooking or canning lately due to a busy schedule and the garden is kind of slow at the moment (though the tomatoes threaten to all ripen at once sometime this week).  I thought I'd just leave you with a few garden flower photos.  I'm really happy things are looking so beautiful.

The large sunflower heads have tapered-off into these small versions at other points on the stalk.  It's nice that it's continuing to blossom for the rest of the summer.

My in-laws gave us a gorgeous purple clematis as a housewarming present.  We bought a small trellis and placed it in the front bed in front of the window.  It limped along for awhile during the heat spell we had but it's really getting beautiful now that things are cooling off.

I've been very happy with how the the Rose of Sharon turned-out and I'm glad my neighbor told me what it was before I chopped the sucker down.  I'm hoping that if I trim the Japanese Maple next to it, it'll start to grow more evenly.  One thing it is doing is shooting-up runners left and right and they grow at an enormous rate.  I've already potted a few and given them away to friends and family and there are a couple more I could dig-up.

I believe this is Echinacea.  There were a ton of them in the picket-fence garden but I didn't know what they were, as they were just tufts of leaves.  I ended-up potting a few for transplant and while in the pots, out popped these blooms.  We've moved most of the salvaged ones to the front garden beds but I keep finding them all over the other gardens because they spread like weeds and I didn't get all the roots.

I'm looking forward to the Autumn, my favorite season, but I'll certainly be sad when the lush gardens make way for a backyard full of wet, drab white snow.