Gail from Clay and Limestone had her Garden of Benign Neglect (which she rehabbed), but I think my mess is a bit more embarrassing.   At least hers looked like it was a mass of wildflower wonder instead of a grassy meadow surrounded by worn railroad ties. It's a shame that I don't love this garden as I should.  Every year, in the spring, I clear out the oak leaves, and I have the best intentions, but . . . . Once again, I've let it go. I can present no defense to the Court of Garden Bloggers except this:  the garden is too far from the house,  facing the street, and I never see it unless I'm coming or going down the driveway.  I cruise through the gate, see it, sigh and then cover my peripheral vision with my left hand as I run indoors.  Once inside, I promptly...

Dear Carol, Mary Ann and Everyone, Although the perennials are doing well, as I write this, the vegetables seem lackluster to me.  I am impatient for vegetable bounty to adorn my table and my stomach, but I am still waiting.  The tiny zucchini still appears to be growing, and so do the tomatoes, but nothing, alas nothing, is edible except a few paltry 'Sungold' cherry tomatoes.  Those I ate while hoeing.  Carol, you'd be proud. Do you discern from my writing that I've been reading Regency novels?  Nothing could be more true.  I just finished And Only to Deceive (Lady Emily Mysteries, Book 1). It was fun, but back to veggie talk. Mary Ann, I took your advice on the diatomaceous earth.  It seems to have stopped the damage.  I also dusted the two tomato plants which had the most hornworm damage with Bt, Bacillus thuringiensis.  I haven't seen any...

Dear Carol and Mary Ann, et al., Can you believe we've reached week 17 in our vegetable journey? This week is all about bugs.  With the extremely warm weather, the insects both good and bad are doing their bit in the garden.  I don't yet have squash bugs (I hate to type that for fear that I will jinx the poor zucchini), but I do have squash vine bores which are almost as bad.  Now, I didn't take a photo of the damage because I was up to my waders in muck from the rain soaked soil and weeds.  I was afraid I would get dirt in my lens.  I already broke one Nikon lens this week, and if this other one goes down, I am lost.  Squash vine borers are a real drag because the stupid moth lays an egg inside the leaf stems or the vine itself, and...

I am sorry to say that I've gotten out of the habit of doing my Sunday Stroll with Aisling from the Quiet Country House.  On Sundays, I have family commitments.  I often miss the stroll, and it is one of my favorite memes on the blogosphere.  So, this week, I'm going to stroll on Saturday instead.  I hope Aisling won't mind. Above, I took this photo of H. 'Indian Giver' which is a small diploid, meaning it has two identical sets of chromozones in each cell.   Ever since hybridizers discovered how to treat daylily seeds with colchicine, we now have tetraploids.  Thus, daylilies are divided into dips and tets.  I like both for different reasons.  H. 'Indian Giver' is a favorite because its bloom possesses the delicate dip form with shades of both lavender and purple.  The colors in this photo accurately represent 'Indian Giver' (one of the first daylilies...