Something Other Than Food
Hello, hello, hello…
It’s a gloomy Sunday morning here in Minnesota, and I don’t mind. I always appreciate some clouds, rain and the occasional thunderstorm. Luckily, I was able to walk the gardens and take some photos of the flowers and the fur babies yesterday morning. Out of all the fuzzballs, Tori is probably the easiest to photograph. She’ll actually look at me when I call her name, and she’s generally very relaxed, which allows me time to get her into focus and frame the photo the way I’d like.
We have catnip planted in various places around the backyard, but both cats prefer to graze on the leaves growing out of this one planter, which is kept near the garage year round. Catnip is a perennial, and can withstand the harsh Minnesota winters. I try to cut and dry the fresh catnip in October so that the cats can enjoy it throughout the winter months. The Payaso and I absolutely love when they act crazy from getting high from it.
When Tori isn’t indulging herself with the feline version of marijuana, she’s often hunting something. I cannot even begin to list the different “presents” she’s left for me and the Payaso throughout the years. She may look svelte, but she’s one fierce hunter. Usually when Moo sees her hunting something, she’ll follow along, which I don’t think Tori appreciates much.
We can tell that Moo is starting to age. She’s lost a few of her teeth, and it takes her a little longer to get up and down stairs. I adopted Moo in May, 2011, and this little girl has come a long way. She was found in a dumpster with her puppies, who sadly didn’t make it. She was severely underweight and had very little hair. She was skiddish, and all she wanted to do was sleep when I first met her. I knew the chiweenie needed a playmate (Lola ate through three couches in a six month period of time!), and I hoped these two would bond and love each other through the years, which they have. Just this morning I sent pictures of Moo to the brand Kona Leases after a recruiter saw her picture on Instagram. Fingers crossed. She’s a sweetheart that only wants to be loved, and loved she is.
Moo and the chiweenie, Lola, together. I never get many pictures of Lola because she’s always under my feet. She’s one loyal pup, and doesn’t venture far from her daddy when he’s home. She’s a great cuddle companion, but she’s a busy, busy little girl. She’s usually in trouble, but we still love her. It’s hard to believe she turns eight this year.
This was one of the first things we planted in what we call our cottage garden back in 2015. It’s called a walking garlic plant, and not only does it have an interesting look, the garlic scapes are edible. It’s called “walking” because once the scapes get heavy, the stem falls to the ground where the scapes start growing roots and eventually more plants. I recently mowed over a portion of this plant, and our entire garden smelled like onions and garlic. Yum!
The cottage garden is about six feet wide and about 25 feet long. It’s filled with all sorts of whimsical flowers that are great for cutting. The pictures above show what’s in bloom right now. We’re patiently waiting for the phlox, bee balm, lilies, and liatris to flower to add more color and variety to the garden. As much as we would love to keep this garden free from weeds, it’s nearly impossible because of how dense the garden is. We also have a few bird feeders that are staked within the garden, which attracts all sorts of birds throughout the year. Last year we didn’t cut back the cottage garden, and the birds were able to snack on the dried seeds from the flowers throughout the cold winter months. The birds are messy when they eat and the unwanted seeds add to the cottage garden with lots of volunteer sunflowers and other wild varieties.
We have this clematis growing up a windmill in the southwest corner of the backyard. I absolutely love the bright purple bells of this variety. The Payaso and I thought it would be similar to the more open-flowered variety, but this flowering vine is starting to grow on me. You can see in the last picture that something has caught Paco’s attention. He hasn’t learned that bees will sting and chase him if he’s not careful.
Oh, Paco. He turns two next week, and he’s full-on kitten. He and the Payaso have a very special bond. He tolerates me, and that’s okay. Lola loves chasing him out of whatever room we’re in, and that’s always entertaining. He’s a good boy; I just wish he’d grow up a little bit. I spent the last 20 minutes trying to get him from unpacking the bags I brought home from the office. I finally had to pick him up, and take him into the living room for the Payaso to watch. Tori growls and hisses at him for no reason, and the two cats aren’t very close. This picture of them eating from the catnip is a rarity. I have dozens of pictures of Paco with this tongue out.
These little flowers are drumstick alliums. I absolutely love their bold colors, compact design, and the fact that they are multiplying nicely. The second picture has alliums, too, but these bloomed back in early May. Once in bloom, these alliums are white and purple with their blooms being larger than my two fists put together. I love they look even after their flowering is over.
Remember the picture I took a few weeks ago with all the blackberry flowers? We’ve got blackberries growing. I cannot wait for them to ripen because I want to make some blackberry jam this summer.
Early July means our lily garden will start to flower. These are the first to open and show their vibrant colors. I wish the first picture of the orange lilies was in better focus, but their colors are simply glorious. There are a few lilies planted in the cottage garden, and they should open any day now. We have lily trees on the south side of our house. Their trumpets are bigger than my hands! They are extremely fragrant, and we’ll often open the windows for the house to be filled with their scent. I can’t wait to show those to y’all.
We planted milkweed a few years ago, and it’s taking over a little corner of the yard. We’ve had so many monarchs this year as a result, which we absolutely love! I’ve noticed a few caterpillars in the milkweed, and I’ll take pictures of them next time I see them so you can see their amazing colors. For now, I’ll simply offer a garden spider. 🙂
Raspberries are ready for pickin’! The Payaso picked a nice crop of these yesterday morning, and they are now getting soaked in Everclear. Raspberry moonshine in five to six weeks anyone?
Every garden needs a classic hydrangea bush. A former coworker gave us this bush a few years ago, and it’s really doing well. I love the elegance of hydrangeas. Here’s a tip: when you cut hydrangea for bouquets, be sure you use a hammer to smash the woodsy stems to allow ample water into the flower; this will keep the flower last longer.
Basil! It’s a great season for basil this year. Wow! Be sure to pinch, pinch, pinch to encourage your basil to get bushier and offer a higher yield.
These are called Chinese lantern plants. You can see the white flowers eventually turn into little lanterns that turn orange (there’s also a nice, rogue, orange lily growing in this part of the garden….oops). We still have orange lanterns that we dried from last year in the house. Great for fall and Halloween decorating!
So there you have it…here’s what’s growing and blooming in our garden right now. We’ve always wanted to have a garden party with beautiful hats and little finger sandwiches, but we never know when to hold it given everything blooms at different times of the year. Perhaps we’ll just have to have several throughout the summer. Hope you have a GREAT day! Thanks for reading!