Garden Updates ~ Sunflowers, Lilies and Hibiscus

The garden continues to produce prolific food and blooms. I always find it interesting when I don’t really like a particular food but grow it for some other reason, only to discover that I love the homegrown version. This happened when I grew cantaloupe for David’s mom, when I grew asparagus due to an obsession with any and all perennial vegetables, and it happened this summer with edamame. Wow! I planted these Tankuro Edamame from Baker Creek just to fix more nitrogen in my soil. I tried them last week alongside miso veggie soup. The flavor hit home.

In addition, we’ve had lots of tomatoes, still abundant lettuce, as well as kale, chard, collards, peppers, peas, onions, and the first cucumber. I also have garlic and the first harvest of potatoes curing in the shed. The most amusing thing for me in the backyard garden is how my purple Thai and Chinese yard long beans climb not only the official trellises, but also the sunflowers and amaranth. I love this synergy! It takes companion planting to fun new levels — literally.

The backyard garden looks a little crazy:

Neither the backyard sunflowers nor the amaranth have bloomed yet, but we don’t lack for flowers out back. Zinnias, lilies, hyssop and echinacea fill in the blanks:

I plant orange flowers for David. I think these are called red hot pokers. If you have good eyes, you might also see some orange day lilies in the far background. The echinacea have orange centers, and the lilies have orange stamens. My Dutchman likes his orange!

Up front, the “Elves Blend” sunflower mix continues to delight:

It’s also cosmo and zinnia season, seen here with purple kale, giant sedum, borage, oregano, mint and marigolds:

I think this next picture is my favorite garden photo of all my garden photos over the years:

These tiger lilies from a 60-days of lilies mix are almost finished. I took this photo last week:

Yesterday, David snapped these two shots of the dinner plate hibiscus planted by the woman who lived here for 30 years:

I love how the front yard looks mostly ornamental, but it still produces a lot of food for both body and soul. Wishing you a beautiful weekend!