Growing Growing Growing!

 Thought Id share some of my garden pictures I took a week ago.  Above is my bittersweet - it is loaded with berry buds!  I should have a GREAT crop of berries to decorate with.  Cant wait - I love how it looks on my fence. 

 This pic above is along my front sidewalk - that big leaf plant is like bamboo - its called Japanese knot weed,  it is invasive but with the house and sidewalk it can not go to far!  It has beautiful white lace like flowers on it mid summer and turns a beautiful autumn red/orange in the fall.  Growing up the slats is honeysuckle. 

 What a pretty peony - of course this was taken before the 40 mph winds Sunday.  Now they are all hanging to the ground :-(

The above and below pic are of my climbing rose.    It is so happy this year!   As you can see the  trellis is a little crooked from the horrible wind we had.  But it is still blooming and no worse for wear .  I just need to straighten it out.

This is my new garden trial this year.  I planted gourds, pumpkins, tomatoes, and cucumbers in straw bales - they seem to be really growing well.  It is easy and the bales provide warmth and hold moisture.  And in our sandy soil the roots trail into the bale after they go thru the dirt.   I have them close to my picket fence so the gourds and pumpkins grow onto the fence making a great show in the fall.  I had them planted along the fence last year (just in the actual dirt) and it looked great.  Plus I had a better crop of gourds than I ever had.   Ill keep you posted!