Flowers and a mocked up shade house for the smaller orchids

 

 

A few tattered but unusual coloured Bee Balms for the gardens. Look at my sisters enormous bright pink geranium in the greenhouse. It is at least three feet across.

 

 

I have taken an old oversize Hawaiian beach towel, draped it over top of the greenhouse and down through the vent/window to create shade for these two small and newly transplanted orchids. It is crude, but is working.

Pruning fruit trees and thinning fruit

I had planned on not thinning fruit at all, just like Paul Gautschi. In his Back to Eden documentary he talks about how the weight of the fruit pulls the trees down into what I call the Halloween tree shape. I found one of the branches on one of my smaller apple trees, snapped and barely attached. I made a clean cut and then realized just how heavy the apples were. So I thinned out some of the apples on the branches that looked most at risk.

 

 

I then moved on to the very overgrown Japanese Shiro Plum. I cut it back to the size it was at the beginning of last year. Frankly, I just got lazy and didn't keep up with it last year. It sure looks better now. I knocked quite a bit of fruit off doing it, but it will be worth it.

 

 

I then pruned a few rogue branches off the fruit trees. Oh what a beautiful time in the garden. I've missed it the past few weeks.

Lots of raspberries for us this year

Raspberries are my favorite food. My huge planting of Tulameen Raspberries has kept us in big bowls of berries every day for desert.

 

 

I also love pesto, so I planted some basil in the hottest place in the yard. In a black pot on the deck where nothing will grow because of the temperature.

My mother...my Thrifting Guru

 

 

I am in awe of my mother's thrifting gift. She finds the most amazing treasures. This week she found a mint condition set of three Clear Pyrex Checks and Cherries bowls. They are rare and worth about $200.00 CDN.

And blooming this week

Delphinium blooming

Buddleia or Butterfly Bush

A fringy Shasta Daisy, love these