Whew, it’s hot and HUMID here in Michigan! Here’s a little photo update of the garden in mid-late Summer. This tends to be a time of fewer blooms. The trick is regular deadheading (popping off the spent flowers). Many plants will rebloom to complement new bloomers like hummingbird mint, hibiscus, hostas, echinacea and cosmos. Before long, it will be aster and mum season.
The garden continues to yield more produce for less work, so I’m liking that! Between massive amounts of greens from the enclosed Garden Tower 2 and cucumbers, squash, herbs, banana peppers, carrots and eggplant in the open beds, every day brings a sizable harvest. It’s not the over-abundance I used to need to deal with while quasi-farming in Goshen: rather, a steady supply of fresh flavors and nutrients.
Some photos from today:

dinner plate hibiscus

hummingbird mint (pink), zinnias, coreopsis, purple basil, flowering parsley

pollinators LOVE the white oregano flowers

bee balm

purple lettuce beginning to flower behind dianthus, pink cosmos upper right, cucumbers to the left and right, plus yarrow at the end of the first bloom, preparing for round two

liatris in the butterfly garden out back

hostas in bloom

heavily harvested Garden Tower 2

fresh cucumber juice before harvesting the next round of cukes

today’s harvest
When it’s this muggy, I also love playing with different hairstyles to get my hair off my neck. I used to have fun with my hair back in my waitressing days, but until last summer I had stopped doing anything but letting it hang loose. Some of that was probably due to living in Northern California, the Pacific Northwest, the dry Southwest and high desert. Living in Michigan, though, I enjoy both the creative outlet and the cooling effect!
David snapped some photos of yesterday’s creation … a little faery fun before we headed for a much needed afternoon at Lake Michigan. Ahhhh!
Wishing everyone a beautiful weekend! It’s almost North Node Horoscope writing time. 🙂
Posted by Tania Marie's Blog on July 25, 2020 at 3:23 pm
all very beautiful and timely, as i head out to water the garden and cut flowers 🙂 ❤
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Posted by laurabruno on July 25, 2020 at 3:27 pm
❤ Hello and love from my garden to you and yours! ❤
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Posted by saintlyanne on July 25, 2020 at 4:07 pm
Beautiful flowers, produce, and BRAID!!!! Thanks for sharing. Best,Julie
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Posted by laurabruno on July 25, 2020 at 4:08 pm
Thanks so much, Julie! Good to hear from you. ❤
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Posted by Kieron on July 25, 2020 at 6:59 pm
Indeed it’s disgustingly humid here too. It’s enervating for me so I just do nothing. I’ve allowed lettuce and radish and some other vegetables to go to flower and to keep the soil covered when I didn’t intend to plant successive crops in their place. It’s interesting to see the smaller, less-known/less-showy pollinators go for these flowers.
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Posted by laurabruno on July 25, 2020 at 7:51 pm
I’m appreciating cool mornings, a new AC and furnace, and a husband who does HVAC repair. Nice cool house, thankfully!
Yes, it’s always interesting which things make the cut or not in terms of decorative flowers. Kale and some kinds of lettuce can look really pretty, mustard, too, although I have never been able to get mustard to grow for me. It’s bizarre!
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