Showing off my blooms!

Oh, My!
(I said blooms, not bloomers!)


 This greets me on my front steps.  I don't usually grow petunias, but these called to me.  The orange is nasturtiums.  I do not eat them.







 I took the camera out with me when I did my morning watering the other day.  This time of year there is lots of color in the gardens, even though many of the spring perennials have come and gone.

 
A Lantana I have in a small hanging pot.  I've seen the hummingbirds feed on it.











This is a wild foxglove.  I think I dug it from my aunt's garden at her "cabin" near Old Forge.  It looks very toothy, doesn't it?

Spiderwort

Asiatic Lilies

I had more of these until a few years ago.  Two things combined to reduce the numbers.  One was planting a somewhat invasive plant near them. I can control the spread to a point, but once they filled in around the lilies, some nasty beetles came and ate them.  Bastids.  So I moved the lilies to a more open spot.  The deer (or rabbits) ate them.   You can't win sometimes. But I am glad some have survived.

  

My beloved Zebrina malva.  I love them, but so do the Japanese beetles.  sigh

I have always grown- and loved- pansies!

I'm having a pink and yellow thing this year.  First the Lantana, then I saw this Dahlia.

I don't know why I have never grown Gerbera Daisies before.  Have they always come in this color???












My Hollyhocks are doing well this year, for a change!

Black eyed Susans

Hyssop

Yesterday I was working with one of my fellow "crazy cat ladies" from the shelter when a call came in from a man who found three tiny kittens in his trash.  In. His. Trash. 
Please- if you know someone who has a pet that is not spayed and neutered, remind them of the importance!  And there are spay and neuter clinics.  If there are truly feral cats near you- or someone you know, contact Spay Our Strays!!!  We get kittens in at the shelter who are sweet and beautiful but have to be euthanized due to disease. These diseases are spread mainly by feral cats.  We have to turn people away at the shelter almost daily who know of kittens they cannot care for.  People bring in one or two that wander in from irresponsible neighbors.  It goes on and on.  There are no laws for cats, like there are for dogs.  That's why you don't see thousands of dogs wandering loose or killed in the road, like you do cats.   It's so frustrating.  At times we wonder why we bother.  We help the ones we can, which is relatively few.
Here's the bottom line:  If you can't care properly for a cat, don't get a cat!!!

I am grateful for:
The fledgling wren who plopped down in front of me this morning, gave me a quizzical look and then flapped his tiny wings and made it to the safety of a tree branch.  (picture tweety bird trying to fly)
Hollyhocks
Air conditioning
A very good time with some ladies I am happy to have as friends
Sewing time!