Heidi II

Yes -- she's back -- by popular demand! Heidi the Hydrangea! Or at least the sequel. We'll see if we can make it work this time. I can't say that we learned much from our last, disastrous, years-long experience with Heidi I. But we are the eternal optimists, believing as we do that we, too, can have at least a hand-full of green thumbs. Actually, one of us does - but I just have a handful of thumbs. Anyhow, we have been spending all our money on plants and all our time planting. We are never happier than when we are dirty. Here's our latest attempt at hydrangea growing. In case you were wondering where this picture was taken, it is where the very disappointing lilac bush was. You remember, the one that always had lots of leaves, but no flowers. It is now on the way to compost heaven.

We bought 3 miniature lilacs from Spring Hill Nursery, and they are doing well, but not as well as this little bush we bought at Raley's with the most fragrant flowers already on it. Notice how the little gnome guy just cozied right up to it. It is very short, but as I mentioned, beautiful and very fragrant.

And speaking of beautiful, what do you think of this beauty? Isn't that one of the most beautiful iris you have ever seen? My photographic skills do not do it justice by a long shot, but this is about the best I could come up with.

Moving on now from beauty to food . . . here is the 2010 corn patch with yellow flowers on the perimeter and two pepper plants in the background by the fence.

The corn is on the south end, and this is the north end. Onions on the left, and potatoes even further left and out of the picture. On the right are mostly peas, but about half way down is our incredible edible spinach and on the far end is our butter lettuce.

And the grapes are back this year too. In spite of our most fervent neglect, they hung in there and are making a great start on the new trellises I made for them. These are the Concord.

An another late addition is the Lemon Tree, very pretty, but you know the rest. I can't wait to have my own Vitamin C tree right here.

And not pictured are numerous berry plants. We kind of went overboard this year on the berry front, with blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Some flowers and bushes had to come out to make room, but it will be worth it. (oh yes, and we have a couple of tomato plants too, just to remind us of the telestial nature of our surroundings)