Hello!

Well no, I didn't fall off the face of the planet, just more into the laziness zone.  This summer has held successes and failures both personally and in the garden.  But thankfully I can learn, and have learned, from them all.

Many of my plants did not arrive, my assumptions being they rotted under ground or are preparing to surprise me next year.  Some of these include: my bleeding hearts, freesia, lilies of the valley, hostas, and more.  I know one of my hostas didn't like the snow we received in the spring and consequently fizzled out.  But I have hope: maybe it spent the summer on its roots instead of foliage...

But many of my plants arrived, and arrived with abundance.  The self-sowers out-did themselves, and I had a chore of thinning out my sunflowers, calendula, and cosmos.  My violas are spreading like wildfire and Jacob's Ladder is popping up everywhere as well.  In one of my weeding fiestas late this summer I finally started ripping out some of the violas just to help the east bed look a little tidier.  I also spent an afternoon or two collecting seeds from my Jacob's Ladder, cosmos, calendula, and snow in the summer.  I even kept the color varieties separate for the first 3.  Thankfully, I only have two varieties of Jacob's Ladder, and three of cosmos.  The calendula, however, ended up having at least 12 different flowers,  which I have a feeling I will never identify (without help that is) owing to the amount of time I would have to spend researching.  But I am okay with that for now.  I would rather be outside in the garden or skiing, than toiling away on the internet...

But one thing I was not lazy about this summer was taking pictures, and taking them in abundance.  I have hundreds of photos to go through to find the few I will post on the web.  That is something I am looking forward to!