Some June Ramblings

 The mermaid, contemplating the blurred foreground, Lebanon Cedar.  This works for me.

 The seahorse, among the ferns.  Think green sea, underwater colors... yeah I know.. its a stretch.

 The bees in my garden really like this plant: Perennial Bachelor Buttons, also known as Blue Cornflower, or Mountain Bluet. This species is low to medium in height and well suited to growing in the sunny border. Plants form a bushy clump of grey-green leaves, setting off a display of clear-blue shaggy flowers in early summer. Removing faded flower heads will encourage repeat blooming. Ruggedly hardy, this plant will grow in most types of soils and climate regions. May self-seed prolifically, so keep an eye out for seedlings appearing where not wanted. Plants may be pruned back hard in mid-summer to maintain a compact habit. Nice for cutting.

 Tradescantia, or Spiderworte.  I also have a bright pink one of this interesting flower.  It does better if I give it sufficient water.

From my search on the internet, this seems to be a banded tussock moth caterpillar.  The moth is a plain light brown color.    It was on an outdoor mat at the time I took this photo.  I think it may have been looking for a place to make its cocoon.  I do have a photo of a cocoon I have often seen... will post it soon.  It is probably this moth's cocoon. 

I have been very busy in the garden this month. There has been much time spent weeding, watering, deadheading perennials, trimming hedges and renovating garden beds.  I have the thyme circle trimmed and looking good, in bloom.  I moved the bench further back in its hedge nook and set it on cement blocks.  So it is now much higher.  The legs that were in the ground have not rusted, I am happy to see.  I laid several layers of cardboard under it to cover the violets and smother them.  I am covering the cardboard with cedar hedge trimmings.  I have lots of this cedar hedge duff.  It turns a light brown color and will look good under the turquoise bench. 
The rhodos are about finished and the roses are full of blooms.  The alpines are all doing very well.  The pinks are in bloom, and the campanulas, too.  It is all looking nice, but there is more weeding and trimming to do.  The garden beds seem to be very dry, so I have been watering a lot.  I have not noticed any publications about water restrictions this year. 

European Wall lizards

I've had these little lizards in my garden for the past few years.  They look like chameleons or the geckos I saw in Hawaii.  The more mature ones are green.  I am happy to have them in my garden and multiplying.  I have very few slugs since they moved in.  Yesterday, I watched one... I thought... attacking another smaller one.  I wondered if they were cannibalistic and so googled this, of course.  I found a good informative site that informed me that I had shared a private second or seven while these lizards mated.  Sure didn't take them long... no time to get the camera.... papparatzi that I am. Further discussion over dinner lead to an informative email about the lizards in our area:  Quote:

DistributionWall Lizards are endemic to continental Europe and western Asia. They have been introduced to several locations in southern England and North America. In the early 1970s, a small group of Wall Lizards was released in west Saanich on Vancouver Island when a private zoo closed. Initially, the lizard population remained small, but once acclimated to our local climate and a breeding population established, the population grew enormously. They now number in the thousands. For the moment, Wall Lizards are restricted to the area of west Saanich, Triangle Mountain in Metchosin, and Victoria on southern Vancouver Island. Recent reports of individuals in the Gorge area of Victoria in 2007, and occasional reports - so far unsubstantiated - of individuals on some islands in the Strait of Georgia, suggest that the species is slowly dispersing. It probably is only a matter of time before Wall Lizards reach the British Columbia mainland or north-western United States, either intentionally or accidentally; southward dispersal is very likely on the mainland.

 

We have had none of the promised rain so I have been out watering in the garden.  There are a few vegetables sprouted and some of the flowers.  I have 13 lupines germinated in pots (out of 20 seeds, so far).  The watering makes it easier to pull the weeds.  I have weeded the thyme circle and edged it back to its 7 foot circumference edging rocks.  It is in bloom and there are more bees than last year, but still not an abundance as there were in years before.  The golden oregano beside it looks terrific.  I weeded some of the area around the thyme circle.  There is still lots of weeding to do.  

The next day, I cleaned up under the bench.  I liberated 4 flat cement blocks from the veggie garden path and added them under the feet of the bench.  I laid 3 layers of cardboard over this... that ought to keep the violets under control...watered the cardboard and put the bench back on its blocks.  It is a bit high and I hope it settles ... I may have to level it again, too.  But I do like it higher, as it had settled quite a lot over the years.  But it had no blocks under its feet... so we will see how this goes.  I moved the metal egg container thing beside it for a 'tea table'... all very rustic, in its nook in the cedar hedge.  I must get photos. The top of the table is a white plastic cutting board.  I must see if I can paint it turquoise to match the bench.  I think there is paint for plastic.  

Today, I used the hedge trimmer to trim down  the cedar hedge by the veggie garden, along the driveway a bit,  on the inside of the cedar hedge at the front, as well as the little hedge and shrubs around the water garden.  I was using muscles I never knew I had to do this and hope I am not too stiff from this.

Paintshop Pro and Photoshopping frames

 A few years ago I made this frame using photoshop.  The frame is from strips of my own photos and it frames a photo of my own.  This frame was made specifically for this photo and on it, in photoshop layers.

 A couple of days ago I learned how to take a frame and add it to the frames in Paintshop pro.  The thing about taking these frames is that I would need to make the new frame to the size of the photo that I wanted it to enclose, for each individual photo.  So, this one as you see cuts off the chair at the top and the leaves in the bottom left, from a previous photo on this blog.  It does this because I did not set up the right dimensions for the photo.  I wonder how they make the frames expand to fit any dimensions.  ... more learning.

I have tweaked a few of the China grip photos for the Travel Group private gallery in that unmentionable photo upload site, where photos are encouraged to be stolen, not to mention that other place where 'sharing' is considered a free for all, for taking anyone's photos and calling them your own.  The photo group is a private group on the unmentionable, as is the family group on the rampant sharing site.  ... there my GAWD Ahmighty for the day!

We have had coolish weather and about 1/4 inch of rain.  My garden needs weeding.  There are now 9 lupines germinated and I am planning renovations to accommodate them.  There are little things germinating in the vegetable garden.  Amazing!  I must keep them moist.