Dear Friends, It's still hot. We only have cucumbers. Finally, broke down and went to the farmer's market.  Bought tomatoes. They didn't make it home with me, but some local honey and beeswax did. I hate gardening this time of year. It feels like war. Aren't you glad you're not here? Since I have no vegetables, I'll show you a pretty bug instead. If anyone knows what kind of bug it is, I will identify it as something other than the above. For more informative letters, please see Carol of MayDreams Garden and Mary Ann of Idaho Gardener.

Or, of the camera, as it were. My Nikon D90 with its multi-purpose 18-70 mm lens has been at the doctor (all the way to Nikon itself) for most of the summer.  I've been getting by with my very old Olympus 3.2 megapixel Camedia C-3020.  It was my first, digital camera which HH gave me for Christmas, 2001.  Although digital cameras have improved by leaps, bounds and pixels, surprisingly, I found that the Olympus still takes great pictures (although its large, outdated Smart Media card only fit in one reader in my house). I bet you didn't even notice that the photos weren't as good.  (Smile.)  For example, all of the photos except the one below were taken with the Nikon.  The Cuphea/Gaillardia combo was taken with the Olympus.  In a blog, more pixels aren't as necessary, because the blog owner usually re-sizes the photos to be smaller so that...

Dear Carol, Mary Ann and all of our other gardening friends, This morning, after breakfast, I walked six times around our property (five acres of it) which took approximately thirty minutes. What does that have to do with gardening? Just this . . . as I walked out my back door, the crunch of the river rock met my ears, and my nose was enticed by . . . the essence of cloves from the Dianthus, the intense perfume of the Phlox paniculata, and an intoxicating tea scent from the shrub roses.  My fingers itched to play, but my feet told me to get walking, so I did.  I am gaining weight, and it's probably because I have no vegetables to eat. About the produce, what can I say?  If this summer were my first to grow vegetables, I would throw up my hands and quit.  Out of the thirteen...

'Persian Carpet' Zinnias Because we've had so much rain in the last three days (two inches) and such fine weather, today was a big-time work day in the red dirt.  The photo, above, is from some Zinnia haageana seed I received from Botanical Interests. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed these little zinnias.  Each plant is a bit different, with some blooms yellow and others like the red ones above.  I'll be buying them again next year. Willowleaf aster The Aster praealtus, willowleaf aster, was taking over a small triangular bed and shutting out the Salvia greggii, autumn sage, and choking out the daylilies planted nearby.  When I removed it, I discovered why.  It has an underground runner root system.  Still, I love the look of its airy foliage so I moved it to the meadow garden where it can reach its full potential.  I replaced it with...