Today's Bountiful Harvest

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They were delicious.

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Second Tomato

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Today, since I showed no such restraint for the first one, I took photographic proof of my second ripened Sweet 100 cherry tomato:

before I promptly ate it, (the top one).


I then strolled around, taking pictures of what's blooming today:

"New Millennium" Delphinium

Daylilies

Bee Balm (Monarda sp.)

Orange Daylily
(I'm not a big fan of orange, but who could hate this cheery bloomer?)

And tomorrow, this guy is MINE!

yum
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Hurry Up and Ripen!

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Momma's hungry!

In the meantime, I will feast mine eyes upon this:

Chaste Tree
Vitex agnus-castus

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First Tomato

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And there's a blatant lack of photographic evidence to prove its existance, because I ate it right off the plant while standing outside in the 99ºF heat, moving a sprinkler from one part of the garden to another.

And it was good. Reeeeeealllllly good. Delicious, in fact. Warm and sweet and so much more flavorful than anything you'll get in a grocery store. Well worth sweating in the heat for. I'm so glad I got to it before a bird or squirrel did. I will need to monitor that plant closely for the next couple of months, and grab the ripe ones as they emerge.

As a rule, I don't grow vegetables, because the amount of sunny real estate I own is just too small and precious, in my mind, to give up for anything but flowers, food for my soul. And let's face it, vegetable gardens require a lot-lot-lot more work than a perennial bed. Definitely more work than my lazy self is willing to commit to in the heat of a Virginia summer.

But every few years I'll stick a cherry tomato plant in the ground, usually of the very delicious "Sweet 100s" variety, for the sole purpose of eating the ripe ones right off the vine, while out in the yard for some other purpose. And I'm always glad I did. Rarely do any make it into my kitchen, but for the time-honored practice of standing-in-the-garden-and-eating. Yum.

I will try to do better in upcoming weeks about getting a picture of a tomato, before I actually eat it.

No promises, though.

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Plants like this...

...are what keep me coming back to gardening:

Hibiscus syriacus 'Blue Bird'
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More pretties....

My Garden in Pictures

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A few things growing and blooming in my garden today, (enlarge any image by clicking on it):

Pulmonaria sp.
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variegated Solomon's Seal
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periwinkle embraces an oak tree knot
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A couple of Campanulas
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Black-eyed Susans
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I cannot remember what this is or when I planted it, but I like it!
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Shasta Daisy
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Daylily
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Daylily 'Destined to See'
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Hydrangea 'Nikko Blue'
(pink, no doubt, because of container soil's neutral pH)
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Hollyhock
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And finally, I've got some kind of huge, freakish fungus growing in my oak tree bed:


It would be pretty, if it weren't so creapy.

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