Where I've Been?

No new pictures for a few days.  It has been so hot here for over a week, it has been just too hot to go to the garden.  Temps have been in the 90's with high humidity every single day!  No air conditioning at the house either!!!!!!!!!  So, until this weather breaks, no new pictures.  I do share a picture from a few weeks ago of little miss Ivy that never made it to the blog.  Stay cool whereever you are.

What is this you ask? Click on the picture to get a better view.

This is one of the 6 cardinal flowers I have in my garden.  It is just starting to set up bloom.  I was very surprised to see what the bloom looks like close up.  So click the picture twice and take a look.

Gloria, this post is at your request

Here is the long view of both Diane's garden (left) and my garden (right) this morning. If you click twice on the pictures, you will get a better view of what is actually there.

Not a lot going on today as far as new flowers open, so I thought I would show you some of the other gardens

As you look through the pictures in the previous post, you can see what other gardeners are doing with their gardens.  You can see how big the raised garden beds are getting compared to last time I showed you them (see the June 20th post).

Views of other gardens in our Community Garden

Here are many different gardens today in my community garden.  The top two of of some pretty flowers in one garden, the white one is a gladious and the purple is a Hibiscus.  One garden has a beautiful little rock garden going on, that big purple plant is a purple basil!  The one near the garden hose (without the flowers in front) is what I call the corn field.  Each year, corn is planted, but no one gets ears.  Our summers are just not hot and long enough (even though today you couldn't tell me that as we are in day 3 of a projected 7 day 90+ high humidity heat wave).

Lilac Lady is strutting her blooms

Princeton Silky is sharing all her blooms

This pretty daylily called Princeton Silky has many blooms open at the same time.  This one is so pretty, but then, I think they all are.

FFO for Daylily called Tuscawilla Tigress

Introducing Tuscawilla Tigress.  She is a huge, orange bloom with 7" flowers with gold mid-ribs and darker orange eye.  This one is a real beauty.

Red Daylily Blooms on July 4th

Cherokee Star (bottom) and Red Volunteer (top) open up wide on the 4th of July.  Real fire crackers they are.

More July 3, 2010 Daylily Blooms

This is even more blooms for last Saturday, July 3rd.  Was busy over the 4th, never had a chance to put everything up on the blog.  Why do I keep putting up the same daylily blooms you ask.  WELL, each daylily only last for one day and there are only a few blooms to each daylily.  I like to be able to compare how the bloom improves with each new one being sent out.

Echinacea

(ek-in-AY-shee-a)

The cone flower's botanical name is Echinacea. It is from the Greek word echinos, meaning hedgehog or sea urchin, referring to the spiny seed heads of the flower.

It has long been esteemed for its herbal qualities and was widely used by the Native American Indians and the white settlers, who used it to treat snake bites, rabies, and other wounds.


In the late 1800s, a traveling peddler from Nebraska, one Joseph Meyer, began making a tincture from the root of Echinacea. He touted his tonic as being able to prevent and/or cure poisonous snake bites, giving rise to the pejorative term "snake oil salesman."

Despite its colorful history, Echinacea is one of the most popular herbal remedies used throughout the world today, mainly for warding off colds and flu symptoms.