Please Join Rosie For A Stroll Through Her Garden.

Things are looking quite nice in the garden, so I'm giving you a free tour today. Hope you enjoy.

Pretty yellow rose.

I think the red roses give this patch of larkspur a nice accent.

Tomato plants, peppers, and some type of "burgundy bean" which is a purple bean that supposedly turns green when you cook it. I thought it interesting. The red in the background is a rose bush my dear friend, Maxine, gave me a hundred years ago.

The ceiling here is painted blue with fluffy clouds and wisteria and a little birdie has chosen this for home.

Two vertical rows of tomatoes on the right. Some of Mr. Hawthorne's heirlooms on front row. Different types of peppers in the rest of the rows and two eggplants in second row from front.

Romaine lettuce seedlings in left hand vertical row and the burgundy beans next to them.

Chives, parsley, and assorted transplanted seedlings.

Just planted snow peas in first row. Spinach in second row. Neighbor brought me a 5-gallon bucket of horse manure from northern Virginia and that's the darker spot in the rest of that bed. I love neighbors like that. Need to till it in, then plant with something else.

My herb garden in the front. In the back, I just planted zucchini, squash, and cucumber seeds, and transplanted tomatoes.

Cilantro, rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, marjoram, sage, fennel.

Older tomato plants in background along with assorted peppers.

That purple mass in the center is an ice plant that came up last year. I've never planted it before so it's a volunteer from a neighbor's yard. I quite like it. Very hardy. You can break pieces off and tuck them anywhere and they'll take root.

I like this stand of white hollyhocks with the slice of pink in the middle.

Little bee having a snack.

Dixie is enjoying the yard.

I had a bit of a depression under the mimosa tree from something or other rotting below ground. I added some dirt from the garden to fill it and even it out. The grass hasn't grown through yet but I have several nice sunflowers that did come up.

My ice plant.

Herbs.

I like the view here. Herbs on the left. Larkspur on the right. That big tree on the right in the back, leaning in, is my bay tree. I got it probably 20-some years ago and thought it would grow into a bush. I kept it indoors in a pot for years, then I decided to plant it outside. About the seventh year, it must've tapped into water or something, 'cause it just took off. I can walk out on my deck and pick bay leaves as needed.

That spot of red on the right is a rose. I have three bushes over there.

I like how this sort of draws you in to the birdbath in the back. It's inviting.

Coral bells or heuchera.

Those are basil plants in the front vertical row on the right. Next two vertical rows are dill and basil coming up from seeds.

Bright Romaine lettuce in middle horizontal row and mesclun mix coming up in front of it. Beans, peppers, and tomatoes in the back.

All sorts of little seedlings coming up in bed in front of deck, along with parsley, chives, hardy orchids, gladioli, and some other stuff I can't remember.

Oleander and parsley.

Angelonia.

Foxglove or digitalis.

Dixie is waiting for the gate to the pool to magically open. She knows she has that power. She knows she can stand in front of a closed door and will it to open. And it works!

Rosebush from Maxine.

Cosmos and sunflower volunteers from last year.

Leopard plant on the left. Fatsia japonica in the back, along with a lot of babies. Back right is acanthus getting ready to bloom.

Heh.

I'm excited. This is the first time my acanthus has bloomed.

That's Blackie. He's guarding the cherry tree. The birds are eating everything on it.

Back in the 70's when terrarium gardens were all the rage, I made one for Mama Hawthorne. I imagine the ferns and everything I planted in it died within weeks, but the terrarium with dirt still in it stayed in Mama's den until a few months ago when I brought it to its new home. Screw those gazing globes. I got me a huge-ass terrarium with 40 year-old dirt in it.

I decided to add some color out here, so I took my $8 poinsettia I bought in November at WalMart and tucked it in amongst the larkspur.

Hope you enjoyed the stroll.