how does your garden grow...

I spent much of today pulling thistles from my landscaping. Here are a few of the pretties that were in bloom while I toiled away. My peonies are in full bloom, some fading away (top left) and some still in the budding stage (bottom right - can you see that the petals almost look like hands wrapping around it?). The asiatic lilies are as vibrant as ever (top right) and the good Lord help me - I can't remember the name of the little flowers in the lower left corner. You'll have to pardon the pictures - the wind never stops in the midwest, and my digital camera is about 8 yrs old... "ancient" in the digital world.

We are trying to be more environmentally friendly with our gardening and lawn care. Here are a couple of products we've been using.

The Liquid Fence is absolutely amazing. We have been using it for about 2 years now, and it really does keep the rabbits away. It smells terrible for about 1/2 a day, but it's environmentally friendly, pet safe and bio-degradable. A word to the wise, don't spray it on a windy day unless you are prepared to smell like rotten, garlicky eggs. Also - you may want to keep your windows shut on the day of use.

Speedy-Gro is also made by The Liquid Fence Company and it's made of the world's fastest growing, fresh organic kelp seaweed, Ecklonia maxima. It's all natural, environmentally safe, bio-degradable and can be used on indoor and outdoor plants. We've just started using this product, so I can't really vouch for it yet. You can find both products right here.

And speaking of gardening, if I could do it all over - I would have made a concerted effort to include more native plants. The National Park Service redirects native plant inquiries to The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin website. If you are into plants, this is a fun site to wander around in. They even have a recommended species feature that allows you to search by state.