Friday, June 30, 2006

drying rose and jasmine

I can't help but take a deep breath every time I walk by these two plants, so I dried them together in my dehydrator... we'll see what kind of tea they make together. The smell is heavenly. My house was so happy while they were drying in here!!

waterlily

???

I always thought this was phlox, but I looked it up in my P&M book, and it's not there... don't know. It's lovely and grows all over under the shrubs.

lily

jasmine

honeysuckle

feverfew

Martha Washington is budding

figs getting fatter

boysenberries

Friday, June 23, 2006

spider


If I knew what this was, I would type it... some sort of jumping spider (it ran and jumped backwards about 25cm to get away from my camera!). It's not listed in my insect/spider ID book.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

recently...

It's been cloudy and sunny with the odd rainshower. You see some fruits are setting, still; some are just beginning to flower. This feels like a nice easy spring, meandering into summer. Wonderful.

wineberry blossom

Definitely click this one to enlarge it. Wineberries are amazing for many reasons, but their sticky hairy buds and bizarre blossoms are at the top of those reasons!

salmonberries


It tried to be dark red, but got a bit carried away, apparently.

red elder berries

somehow this image reminds me of jinglebells

new pears stand straight up!

new kiwi leaves are red!

kiwi blossoms

kiwi blossoms

they like to hang upside down in the shade. They are shy.

cutleaf evergreen blackberry

Thank you Vati! My wonderful father in law came to the rescue when my trusty plant-ID book didn't list this plant. Rubus Laciniatus, he says: fruit slightly inferior to himalayan blackberries. :--)

himalayan blackberry

himalayan blackberry

Saturday, June 17, 2006

spit (spitbug is hiding)

spitbug

avens?

yellow rose

red clover

new oregon grapes

nasturtium

mysterious weed again

creeping violets?

I don't know; they're everywhere along the edge of the lawn, here. Long, trailing, and bitter-smelling.

purple iris

white foxglove

bicolour foxglove

web dew

arbutus

The king he had a daughter fair; Arbutus was her name.

...

Cast off, cast of your very brown gown, and stand upon the stone, for if you be a maid or none, the truth it must be known.

...

And she's cast off her very brown gown, and let the gown fall free, but before the hem did touch the ground, she's turned into a tree.

Her lover became the gentle breeze; through her branches he does play, and she sheds off her soft brown bark, until this very day.

(Paddy Graber)

zwiebelturm

hollyhock

new feverfew blossoms

chamomile leaves

This little patch of hardy roman chamomile provides me with a big jar stuffed with blossoms every year - enough for my whole family of chamomile-drinkers, and some to share. I pick them as they blossom and dry them on a little stretched cloth in the house, every few days putting the dried blossoms in the jar. But not yet... still waiting for the first blossom.

strawberry blossom

strawberries

We ate these for dessert last night - our midsummer treat: fresh warm strawberries with whipping cream. Mmmmmmm.

wineberry buds

new boysenberries

new blueberries

new apple

aging iris

Thursday, June 15, 2006

wild columbine

When we were little, my brother and I "had" an area of the public forest we called our "garden". Actually we usually fought over whose garden exactly, it was, based on who had discovered it first, and who could prove it, or whether that mattered, since we never staked our claim... But anyway, that is beside the point. In June of every year, this beautiful garden sprouted these wild columbine, like little gifts from the sunshine. We used to stop there and sit down sometimes to fight over who owned them. :--)
Today I discovered this one by the creek, here. I'll show it to Adrian tomorrow.

new salal berries

huckleberries

white harebell