I love sunflowers! I had many volunteers come up in my gardens and just randomly throughout the landscape. I remove the small plants when they are where I don't want them to be or they compete with other plants I like more. I plant a few new colorful varieties that interest me each year so that I basically have no idea what the actual names are for the most part. Sometimes I just greet them on my walks with, "Hello, Sunshine or Lookin' good, My Pretty!" This year they were especially abundent because I'm less interested in growing a variety of vegetables. I had been growing and canning/freezin/drying vegetables for over 30 years until about the time I retired 11 years ago and mostly grow to enjoy the beauty and shop more at local Farmer's Markets.
This Mexican Sunflower is an annual that is planted by the garden shed in an area that is a memorial to our dachshund, Sassy. It is a favorite of butterflies and I love the flower's bright color when I chase the butterflies for photos. It is an easy site with the blooms at the right height.
The ashy sunflower is a Missouri native located at the edge of the backyard and grows in abundance! It came to my yard on its own and is welcomed.
A volunteer sunflower with many heads is located in the middle of a native garden and is very showy. I also planted some orange and red sunflowers around it.
The Teddy Bear Sunflowers are especially dear to me as they are hard to grow with success. I plant them from seed most years as they don't have much success re-seeding themselves probably because they don't have as many seeds as other sunflowers. It is a relatively short plant for a sunflower and the fuzzy-wuzzy heads are small. They are easy for the deer to get so I cage a few plants.
I think this is one of the Giants located in my garden that I planted this year. It grew at least 15' tall with a huge head! I have several of these that needed an iron ready-rod for support as the winds can take them right out of the ground!
This is one of the come-backs that I allow to stay. It may be a native yellow coneflower.
This one I bought as a plant to display in front of our picture window until fall when I found a permante home for it with other coneflowers in the upper tier of the front yard. It is a perennial. I believe it is some kind of Echinacea or Rudbeckia but I call it a yellow coneflower and maybe a brown-eyed Susan. I lost the tag it came with. It is a beauty!
Practically overnight, up comes the Surprise Lilies aka Naked Ladies in many large groups throughout our landscape. It is in the Amaryllis family. It is one of the first green plants that grow and has 2-3' tall green leaves in the early spring that die down soon after. One almost forgets about them until August when these bare-stemmed shoots grow to support the most delicute and showy pink daylily. Surprise!
The oblisk along the driveway is the trellis for morning glories and hyacinth bean vines next to a large group of Four-O'Clock plants. These are all volunteer. I think I will reduce the number next year even though it all makes for a great display of color that is easy to maintain. Our Bobi Kitty loves to spend his late summer days under the great cover of the gigantic plants. It is close to the door and he can follow us inside quicker for a treat. I am thinking this may be the cause of some digestive problems he had as these plants dropped their abundent seeds on the mulch bed he sleeps. All three of these plants are considered toxic. I don't think he actually eats the plants, but likely he licks his fur as he grooms himelf after a nap in this location. I had to take him to the vet when he quite eating and lost a pound and was dehydrated. That trip cost me $300 including an X-ray for potential blockage and antibiotic meds with no conclusive cause. He was kept inside for a few days until he was back to normal again. In the meantime, I cut down all the plants as it was late in the growing season anyway. He could find another nice covered plant area for his naps. He didn't get sick again, so far. I don't know for sure what the cause of his sickness was but had to do something! I had much less of these plants in previous years so that's what I'l do next year.
Our granddaughter was back again and it was a good time for neighborhood garage sales. The next door neighbor had a good sale with lots of boy toys from her twin boys that are a couple years older than Kayleen. We got some dinasaurs to add excitement to the garden areas! This beautiful dress was given to Kayleen that the neighbor's older step-daughter didn't want. It sure was a nice gift for Kayleen and she wore it everyday! The elephant ears are at their peak at this time of summer and make a great moveable privacy screen when the other neighbors are on their deck.
This was the year of beautiful princess dresses and this pearl necklace went along for the ride as Kayleen mastered the "twirl."
She also mastered the 500-1000 piece puzzles that we always had in progress on the dining room table since last winter. It is something that is fun for all of us and is checked each morning to see who stayed up late to add a bunch of pieces. We always let Kayleen do the final dozen or so pieces and celebrate the accomplisment!
Kayleen is getting stronger this summer and wants to try the monkey bars at the big-kid part of the playground as we wait for her mother to pick her up to go back home. She needs a little lift to get on the bars and she knows we can't lift her so high antmore so she masters the lower bars first. Next year she may be ready for the taller ones!
Before the summer was out, our daughter and her family had a fantastic final weekend together in St. Louis. We have so many photos shared from the amusemnet park and aquarium, and the first motel overnight stay for Kayleen. What wonderful family memories were made!
The following week school began. Kayleen was now in Kindergarten!
Since our granddaughter is starting fulltime school, we will not have her visit us for five days every ten days as we have had this past year. Hopefully, we will start that up again next summer. We will be happy to have her here whenever her mother says so and she says the long weekend teacher or regular holiday weekend would make good sense because of the driving distence, although not as frequent. Winter travel will especially have icy roads that are best to stay put. Durring this next break Kayleen is home and going to school, I took a few days to remodel her room which I also use as my Book Nook/Napping/Yoga Room with the nice trundle daybed. I repaired the floating shelf that fell down after it was loaded with too many books and is now used only for stuffed friends.
The new book rack takes the load much better and is a great way to see all the books and easy to put away. Her precious Toto dog and basket has its own special place instead of being buried under other toys.
I painted the room a light blue which goes well with the blue/grey carpet that is also in the other bedrooms. The walls were a very light lavender originally but it was too light and got washed out with the sunlight.
I bought a new toy bin to help Kayleen see and organize all her stuff. It had all been put on that other wood self and stacked on the floor in shoe boxes. By the end of this summer, there was so many items they all got thrown together in different boxes and took too much time to find what she wanted. I know she will like this arrangement and find just the right way to put things where she wants and can find them after she puts stuff away. I also have more of my floor area open for my yoga!
The bathroom remodel is coming along with new ceramic tile floors done and plumbing re-do to add a newly ordered jetted tub for the alcove. It is made to order and will arrive from Denver, Colorado at the beginning of November. We will have everything that can be done finished by then with nice work breaks inbetween other planned activities.
Kayleen is back at our house again for the long Labor Day Weekend. She loves kitties and took several walks around the neighborhood to hopefully see the neighbor kitty who runs to greet her several times now. Kayleen loves her new room arrangement and puts the toys where she wants them to be. She had wanted pink walls but says the blue color is fine.
I am so happy that the monarch butterflies arrived at this time. I think the ones that come now are the super monarchs that travel all the way back to Mexico on their migration. The spring monarchs are 3-generation ones that lay eggs on their way to Canada. I have success with native plants such a milkweed honeyvine and Joe Pye weed that support these later travelers. I also have a variety of blooms at this time for all pollinators; the yard is growing and full of activity!
These hanging planters have an abundance of bright blooms and looks great in the gravel chiminea area on the lower level patio. I love the "Magic Hour" concrete wall ornament we purchased when the patio was completed.
Kayleen is full of homemade ice cream with all the toppings she wants!
Finding new places for yard ornaments she likes as she enjoys all the changes since her last visit.
One more round on the beloved horse swings at the playground below the dam. It was the same one her mother loved when she was the same age. Nothing has changed here...same swings and bouncing pig too!
The newest playground closer to the tennis court and sand volleyball court are also favorites. It was now time to go back home and back to school. The next plan to have her visit will be in about a month...what changes will be then, we will see!
One thing I couldn't see is her beloved Cat-Corn pillow that she always has in the car and rests her head when she naps on the long car rides. I had just gotten home after dropping her off at the park her mom picks her up at,when I noticed the Cat-Corn pillow was not there anymore! What could have happened to it? Did it fall out the back door as she got out as she has been unbuckling her seat belt by herself lately and opening her own door when we stop. I called her mom and asked if she might have picked it up as I pulled away being parked in front of her car at the park. She said, "No." and I decided to stop by there on my way to the gym the next morning. I did and it was not there! I think I may have lost a little sleep that night too and now I was wondering where I could possible find another one like it. It was one of a kind - a combined cat, unicorn, and mermaid pillow. But just as I was feeling sad and bent down to sit in my driver's side....
...there she was!!!!! It could not be seen while standing outside the car. Kayleen must have stuffed Cat-Corn between the passenger side front headrest and the car roof. I guess we should have asked her where Cat-Corn was! Her mother and I didn't tell her it was missing yet in case it turned up. I had no reason to turn my head to the back seat or I would have seen it sooner. Well, it did turn up at the park after I sat there for awhile really bummed out! The trick was on me. Good one, Kayleen!
A few days later, Kayleen got her ears pierced. She was very brave!
The end of Summer was here and we would have more time to fill in between our granddaughters visits which has been our wonderful priority this past year. We will all find new ways to grow and come back together to share experiences. I hope the reader comes back also and shares some of our stories too. The Good Ol' Days are in the making. Nothing stays the same. If it did, we would not grow!
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