Renville County Fair

Globe thistle-makes a great cut flower, lasting for weeks in the vase. It also dries well.  I like it because it adds the color blue to my flower beds.

Blackberry Lily-The leaves of this lily remind me of an iris. The flowers are so dainty about 1"- 2".  The seed pods open in the fall, showing clusters of black seeds whose fancied resemblance to a blackberry gives the plant its common name, "blackberry lily".



Coneflower- Here are the coneflower I brought to the Renville County Fair.  I have had a few plants that had Aster Yellows. This is a disease transferred to the plant by the aster leafhopper. This can cause the death of coneflower plants. It is caused by a type of bacteria known as a phytoplasma, which is a parasite that feeds off the plant's phloem (the tissue that carries nutrients throughout the plant). Symptoms include the loss of pigment in older leaves and yellowing of new leaves. Stems may get anemic and the flowers distorted. There is no cure for aster yellows.  Here are a few good articals about aster yellows.

Read more: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/efans/ygnews/2012/07/aster-yellows-common-in-cone-f.html
http://blog.northerngardener.org/tag/aster-yellows-on-coneflower/

Here are 3 of the flowers I brought to the Renville County fair:
Globe thistle-1st place
Blackberry Lily-1st place
Coneflower - 2nd place

Swallowtail butterfly

I think the Swallowtail Butterfly is gorgeous!

Front Flowerbed

A few photos of my front flowerbed.

Monarch butterfly

Today is Pink Saturday's decade Birthday. Happy Birthday. Please check out the others here. Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Lisianthus

Lisianthus is one of my favorite flowers to use in arrangements.  I just love their longevity in the arrangements!

Botanical Name: Eustoma (yoo-stoh-ma)

The Common names of Lisianthus are Prairie Gentian, Texas bluebell, Tulip gentian, Bluebells and Lira de San Pedro.

The name Lisianthus comes from the Greek words lysis, meaning dissolution and anthos, meaning flower.

Lisianthus also symbolize appreciation.

They are kind of fussy to grow and I do lose a few each year, but I really love them!

Today is Fertilizer Fridays/Flaunt your Flower. Thanks to Tootsie Time. You can check out the others here.

Kitchen Garden

Astilbe is a fun plant for shade gardens. Astilbe will bloom in shade, but the plants prefer some sunlight to achieve their full size. However, in hot weather and dry soils, their foliage will burn. Some species are commonly known as False Goat's Beard, and False Spirea.

Today I am linking to Home and Garden Thursday. Check out other great blogs here.

Flower Lamp

Garden art?

My friend, Judy, is downsizing her house.  She asked me if I would like this lamp.  I told her I would love to have it, if she didn’t care what I did with it.

I told her it would make good garden art.  She just laughed and said go for it.

I spray painted the base a fun garden green.

Then I turned the lamp shade the opposite way. I tried to plant a cute ivy geranium in it, but it was just too top heavy.  It kept tipping over.

I call it garden art.  It makes me smile.

I am joining What Ever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts for the first time.  Please check it out here.