Lasso The Moon

Garden 4

My poppies.  I thought I had lost them this  year.  Everyone else's bloomed and faded, and mine stayed green and leafy.  And then, last week, there they were.

And you know how I feel about poppies.

 

Garden 3

The year we moved here was the same year I got to celebrate my first official Mother's Day.  Every year since, Donnie and the kids have treated me to a rose bush of my choice.  Some of them have flourished, and those are the ones I'll be digging up and transplanting in Dallas.  Here are my favorites:

So beautiful they make the chain-link fence look fancy.  I don't know if we'll even have a yard to plant these in, since we haven't yet found a house.  But my mother-in-law has offered to keep them in pots at her house until we do.

I wonder if the Japanese Beetles have made it to Texas yet. 
I hope not.

Garden 2

Here's another favorite that will not be accompanying us to the Lone Star State.  But if there was a way to do it, I absolutely would. 

For several weeks during the summer, this honeysuckle vine blooms magnificently.  It has taken over part of our fence, and at the end of the day, the wind blows its fragrance over to the back porch.  Absolutely intoxicating.  I could write a love poem about this vine.

When I should be packing...

Well, I am supposed to be packing for our big trip to Florida tomorrow, but I can't seem to pull myself away from other things.  Like this phlox:

So vibrant.  And the teepee we set up for Emma, with morning glories climbing over it:

And yes, she lined those trains up on the steps.  She lines everything up.  That's how she plays.  Look at that proud little face.  And her momma's on the other side of the camera making the same face at her.

And then, of course, I remembered that my friend Andrea's birthday is tomorrow.  And we are going on vacation with her and her husband.  So I got an idea of what to make for her, and it had to be good, since she made a pretty big deal out of mine this year.  Looks like it's going to be a long day.


That's the lining.  With a pocket for her hand-sanitizer.  (She's a germ-a-phobe, and I get much pleasure from teasing about it.)

My first tomatoes!

    I have had my own dirt for three summers now, but this is the first year that I have been successful with tomatoes.  I love to garden.  I love to plan, and dig, and plant, and even weed.  But I sometimes forget to water.  Oops.  I do very well with daylilies, and zinnias love me.  But the past two summers have seen some very dried up tomato vines.  Not this year!  I am learning and growing, myself.
    We have already eaten many of this year's bounty, but we are leaving for our summer vacation in a couple days...
     So I'm making crushed tomatoes for freezing, so I don't waste a single fruit.

Aren't they gorgeous! 
(We are growing "Mortgage Lifter,"  "Yellow Boy,"  and "Purple Cherokee.")