Garden update

I took a bunch of pictures of the garden so you could see how big everything is already.  The asian pear tree is loaded with fruit, last year we could hardly find any, my bee balm otherwise known as monarda is almost five feet tall, crazy big.  




















I had bought a pot of blooming lilies last year, there were 5 and they were only about a foot tall, I didn't know where I wanted them but I stuck them into the clematis/gladioli bed so I wouldn't kill them.  Well they are HUGE, the plant stems are like broomsticks and they are almost five feet tall and still reaching, they've squished the glads they are planted next to.  Can't wait until they bloom.  













The yellow rose bush has a cane with buds at the top that is now taller than Larry...crazy. Every bug known to roses is plaguing me this year.  It's a wonder I've gotten any more roses on one bush that keeps having the tips go limp and die because of a borer that goes into the soft tips.  We had to lop off a hunk of my Merlot rose bush because a cane borer was boring its way down to the heart of the plant, but we got it in time.  So much for systemic rose food/insecticide/fungicide.

my food garden, tomatoes, zukes, lemon cukes

Talked to our neighbor that had gotten bitten by a rattlesnake a month ago, she is only now able to get out a teeny bit for short periods of time.  There was so much swelling for a long time, they even feared she would lose a toe, she was given 8 vials of anti-venom, all the hospital had.  She had two more snakes in her yard in two days just this week.  We still have been lucky enough to not have any this year, but we are concerned about Gracie.  We researched the rattlesnake vaccine for dogs and figured it wouldn't be good for her because she reacts to everything from getting micro-chipped to her flea/tick remedies and the Vet agreed.  They recommended a rattlesnake avoidance class for her, they use real rattles, real muzzled snakes (don't know how that works) so the dogs know the smell and the sound and learn to always give them a very wide berth, so the end of next month we are doing that.  I figure that her awareness will help alert us too.

The bee balm is that tall green clump at the far end

Last evening Larry felt an earthquake and we were surprised to learn that it was centered at the south end of Lake Almanor, not far from where we lived in Chester for 14 years.  The seismologist we saw on the news this afternoon said it was the largest the area has had in like a hundred years and the many aftershocks they are having is unusual too.  Glad we aren't there!  We haven't felt any more down this way.

my crazy carnations