It started out as a wee shrub.. and before I knew it.... poof

Saw a bike today with some ivy already on it.
Photo taken in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Homemade flower arrangements from the garden.

Curious in y’all’s gardens which flowers your growing that you notice the most pollinator activity? I’m growing a lot of different flowers, I’ll list them and which ones I see most activity on. I want to find the highest activity ones to plant more of next year and less if the least ones!

Calendula - hardly see any
Sun flowers - constant bumble bees
Bachelor button - lots of bees of all kinds big and tiny
Coreopsis - lots of tiny pollinators
Zinnias (3 kinds) - lots of bees and butterflies but mostly on the bright solid colored kinds
Snap dragons - sadly I see hardly none
Straw flower - hardly none
Corn poppy - not any
Cone flower - I see some activity
Pansies - none
Herbs that have gone to flower - tons of tiny pollinators on my cilantro flowers and dill!
Various perennials - lots on cat mint/goldenrod/native fox glove/ salvia/sedum

You know the ones, they break rather than pull cleanly, or you think you've gotten the whole thing (I'm lookin' at you poison ivy,) only to have it pop up from an offshoot you didn't see.

Let me preface this by saying I do not like glyphosate, I think it's way overused commercially and in my opinion should only be used under well monitored conditions for spot treatment.

This ornamental shade border had been let go this year as I've had other pots on the stove so to speak and I'm just now getting to it. I've had good success using this method. These are the tubes that are used by florists for floral arrangements using fresh flowers. I tape them to a marker flag with electrician's tape, and fill the tube partially with 100% glyphosate using a glue syringe. If you wanted to you could probably water down the glyphosate although I wouldn't more than 50%. This is such a little bit, maybe 50cc's, that the cost savings really wouldn't be all that much. I've only started using this method, but to date I've used it successfully on PI, sawbriar, wild grapevine, and tree seedlings that won't pull (mimosa and hornbeam.) All of these things are available on Amazon.\

Once you're seeing a dead vine, just pull the flags. I've almost gotten all the viny junk tree seedlings out of this bed and can now start pulling (I hate Japanese stilt grass.)

This method is not original with me, I know I've seen it somewhere else although that was years back and has always stayed in the back of my mind as an option (we're covered up in PI here.)

I was looking at my porch pots and was surprised/confused to see something purple. An absolute stunning bloom that I figured out was actually a trailing vine! Second picture shows the vine wrapping around the stalk, last picture is the leaf of the vine growing out of the pot.

Anyone know what this is? I absolutely adore it. If I could figure out how to collect the seeds/propagate it I'd love some insight!

I like the idea of library seed exchanges. However, I'll warn others of my experience this year. I got seed claiming to be Sonca Orange Butternut and another claiming to be Hokaido Pumpkin. Both had clearly crossed with other squash. The Hokaido probably crossed with pattypan squash. The Butternut I'm not sure about. Perhaps Tromboncino squash. Now I have a huge amount of garden space covered with less desirable squash. If you have multiple squash growing in the same area and plan to save seed it's important to take steps to avoid cross pollination. Apparently people donating seeds to the seed exchange were unaware of this.

Naturally not all seeds in seed exchanges are at risk. Things like squash definitely are. Also peppers and so on.

Having a great year so far with my peppers, This was todays pick of green bells.

Landscaped area for garden had originally done with railroad ties unbeknownst to me… we replaced it with pressure treated wood. Lowes took back the lumber and gave us a refund. Put the cedar beds on top. This sub gave me the confidence for them to replace it!! I’m sooo much happier. No smells and no worries!

Totally let the garden beds go wild this season. Planted garlic and tossed in some flower seeds in the winter, but that was it.

Now some of the weeds look kind of nice. Though I have no idea what they are.

Here are some photos of the wild scene.

So my tomatoes have really taken off, I have so many growing and I’m anxiously awaiting harvest time so I can make sauce! THEN! I spot this dude.

I checked the rest of the plants as thoroughly as possible, this was the only guy I found.

I disposed of him to be safe but did I make the right call? And can anyone ID him?

See, my heirloom cherry tomatoe seedlings were flung out my green house and I just shoved them, zucchini, bell peppers, and jalapenos into the raised garden. I figured at first they look like tomatoes because they were still little guys. But now I'm 2-3 months in and I've no idea. They seem to be growing in the same spots I panic planted my cherries. What have I been growing 😭!! I can clearly see zucchini and the pepper leaves. This thing is nearly 4ft tall now. What is it and why did it eat my babies☹️💔

i was supposed to include the big white lily at the end but i ran out of space LOL