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Interesting flowers

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I grow a number of different flowers and plants in my garden, but you’ve probably guessed by now (if you’re a regular reader) that there’s more roses than any other type of plant. Having said that I do enjoy my more unusual flowers like my Black Hollyhocks:

Black Hollyhock

This picture doesn’t do this large open flower justice.

The color of the petals appear black from a distance, but when you get up close you can see that the petal color is really a very deep maroon. If you look at the petal in the top right you can see some of the deep maroon color that I’m talking about.

I love these flowers velvety appearance too.

Another flower that I like is the Balloon flower. In particular I enjoy looking at the flower buds before they bloom.

Balloon flower bud

The buds look like balloons that are about to float away.

I must go now and close the doors and windows. A skunk must be walking around the neighborhood. The pungent smell is coming into my house. Stinky! I’m surprised my dog hasn’t reacted to the smell yet!

I thought I’d take a moment to highlight a few of our Green Thumb Sunday participants recent posts.  There are some fantastic photos on these pages as well as stories to go with them!

Check it out:

Green Thumb Sunday – Orange roses. Moonstone Beach, Cambria, California.Gardeners, as well as plant and nature lovers, can join Green Thumb Sunday every Sunday. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Green Thumb Sunday – Join Green Thumb Sunday My Mom loved her Cactus plants and shared with everyone, even potting them to be sold at the local thrift store. The plant receives very little care and attention from Pop and I, other than occasional watering, …

Green Thumb Sunday – Frost! – Supposed to be between -1 and +1 C. I have to go uncover what I did manage to cover, in a few minutes. I picked some beats, an onion, a bell pepper, potatoes, tomatoes, purple and green beans, squash, and zucchini.

Green Thumb Sunday ~ Echinopsis – Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in for Green Thumb Sunday by visiting As the Garden Grows for more information. Join. Some rights reserved. See Creative Commons License on post for details.

Green Thumb Sunday! – I always leave volunteer sunflowers. Here’s why…

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!






Wild flowers by a shallow creek

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Chris and I took our puppy over to SunnyBrook Park yesterday so that she could see the horses they keep there.

While we were in the huge park we took a walk along a nice stream and Midnight, her water loving self, had to jump in the water!

I stayed on the bank and wandered around taking pictures of both Chris and the dog in the shallow water. I was also doing my best to fight off a hoard of mosquitoes! I wasn’t happy about that!

While I was taking pictures I noticed a few clumps of flowers. I’m not sure what they are, but they’re lovely:

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The plants grow to 2.5 to 3 feet tall and grow in clumps. They look like this:

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The area they were growing in was kind of shady at 5 in the afternoon. I have no idea if it gets bright light in the morning but I suspect there’s more light earlier in the day than when we were there.

Anyone have any idea what kind of flower this is? (Reminder I’m in Toronto – USDA zone 5b, just in case you need some climate info to help me figure this out.)

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

This is the Life!

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Ah …. I’m sitting here in my backyard at the patio table enjoying this beautiful day while surrounded by the beauty and lovely scent of my garden.

I couldn’t ask for anything better!

My husband is here beside me reading a magazine while we both keep an eye on our almost year old Labrador retriever.

Midnight, our Lab, has spent some time in the garden with us, but barely ever off leash. This is in part because our fences aren’t all that high, and well … she still likes to explore all of the garden beds. This time however, we’ve let her off leash and brought out a few of her toy bones to chew on. She’s being good and seems to be enjoying the time outside as much as we are.

My only worry is that she might try to bite a bumble bee and then get stung! You see she’s fascinated by bugs, and like most dogs tries to snap at them and eat them when she sees one! I don’t want her stung, nor do I want to find out if she’s allergic to bee stings (like me!). Plus, the bee population has taken a hard hit this year so there’s no point in letting our dog needlessly kill a useful insect.

We were expecting an overnight guest this weekend but he had to cancel at the last minute. To prepare for his visit we tidied up the garden, watered it and finally got around to putting our Tiki torches in the garden last night. The torches give the garden a “Survivor” kind of feel, and they also help keep the mosquitoes away since we use Citronella oil in them.

Do you spend time just enjoying your garden and or using it to entertain guests?

Do you ever bring your laptop outside to your garden so you can blog or read your email?

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