Sorry, but I disagree. When I looked up the tree you named, it's leaves are pointed.

Look up Albizia julibrissin. Rounded end leaves. I have grubbed tons of Mimosa, silk tree, whatever you want to call it. It is a weed tree.

I'm going to offer a dissenting opinion: Black Locust. Look at the the close up of the leaf/branch pattern.

Considered an invasive outside its natural range.

today in the garden....I watered and watered, it having been 32 days since our last rain and it's been over 100 degrees for the last four days and we're not expecting any relief for too long a spell

This is purple and blue week in my perennial gardens. Purple astible are like clouds, backed by the remains of the white astilbe, purple irises are on their last legs, but make a nice showing, the lace cap hydrangea we planted last year have taken hold beautifully and form a lovely green leaved back wall to one of the gardens, topped by delicate blue flowers. The Stokes Asters (corn flowers) worm their way through and pop up with blue blossoms where least expected. These colors are punctuated by a host of late blooming yellow daylillies.

Had I not, four years ago, installed a seven foot high deer fence completely around our property and down to waters' edge (in the woods so it can"t be seen) with a gate across the drive, this would all be deer food.

We discovered that a bed of purple Japanese Irisis I planted in the marsh garden seven years ago, which hadn't been seen since, made a miraculous appearance this summer, with lovely fat blossoms and healthy sword leaves. Amazing things, plants. Also a mallow plant that has blossoms the size of dinner plants made a reappearance after going awol for five years. Small pink buds promise flowers, but we'll see. The marsh garden may yet develop.

The twenty foot high native rhododendron are showing the last of their wihite blossoms, but the petals make the fron lawn look like a summer snow fell under their branches. The purple and pink Rhodos finished weeks ago. I'm not sure what we'll have in late July, since the gardener put a whole bunch of plants in without telling me, so I hope I'm in for a pleasant surprise.

A trio of Japanese painted ferns (Athyrium naponicum) have spread beautifully under a quartet of hybrid rhododendrons we planted three years ago. The rhodos are not yet blooming, but the ferns look glorious.

I am looking for some advanced bougeanvilla plants to hang from the pergola in back, along with sone madevillas. Their blossoms keep coming all summer as long as they are watered and fed. I may have to give in an line the green wire plant shelves on the back deck with geraniums. The colors are so nice and they are pretty hearty in the summer heat we get.

Roses have never liked us much, alas, but I may break down and put some in large planter urns just to have the sweet smelling blossoms. Next weekend I will shop for some at the local nurseries.

Success and failure.

Success:

Roasted and teamed up with some other goodies in tonight's dinner.

Failure:

The cauliflower, which is succumbing to the wilts. Tomorrow I'll yank it and throw it on the burn pile, and I'll use that precious space to plant 3rd crops of beets and filet beans.

Thanks to Dennis we are finally getting rain here. Much needed rain. Because we get our water from the Ohio River, the availability of water is never a problem, but not everything can be irrigated and lots of mature trees were at risk. They are predicting rain for the rest of the week.

Oh yeah, the farmers are mighty happy too.

Favorite perrenials?

Now that I spent some quality time cleaning up the mid-summer growth, I can tell I need to fill in a few blank spots in my flower beds and I'm wondering what folks' favorite perrenials are? I have a crush on fritelaria (sp?) but am looking for ideas for tall blue/purple partly shade loving specimins. I'm in the Boston area.

Ideas?

Maybe Baptisia or Monkshood?

Mmm... monkshood is very pretty. Is it hardy?

slow, steady, drizzling rain for 5 days in a row (thanks Dennis) has totally rejuvenated all plants here. Will continue through the weekend and then sun.

The tomato plants are all showing lots of lovely green fruit. I just pruned out some of the foliage to let more sun in for ripening. One single cherry tomato is starting to show some color. I'm guessing another week or two before I have anything edible.

When I yanked the caulifower, I discovered that some tiny white larvae were eating the roots. If I'd know earlier, I'd have treated the soil with some Neem oil. As it is, it's about the right time to direct-sow cauliflower for late fall harvest, so I might start some in flats for transplanting into the beds the garlic will be leaving behind shortly.

Finally got a look at the garden thread after being in festival mode for days. Sorry about your cauliflower, GG but those beets look divine.

Also got a look at our neglected garden on the weekend (we have been out of town the past two weekends and attending a Blues festival all this week and weekend). Something has been noshing on the acorn squash. Found a lovely large cuke we are looking forward to eating. The tomatillos are taller than the tomatoes and shading them (bad planning, but we didn't realize how tall they get). Chard is on the menu this week too. Need to plant more lettuce. Missed the garlic scapes...

And the weekend, my God, the weeds...

Fly

flyfish, what kind of chard do you grow? One of the "colored" ones, or the conventional green? I grew some all-yellow once that pleased me very much.I mean, all yellow stalks, like the rainbow variety, which I've found to be inconsistent in it's tastes sometimes.

I think weeds possibly sleep less than rust

Praise Gawd, my tomatillos have started to fruit!

Aren't they cool how they make a little paper balloon for the fruit to grow into? My understanding is they are ready to harvest when this paper balloon starts to split. Much later in the season.

Are yours "ballooning" too?

Oh yes. If all of my balloons come to fruition, I'll have the mother lode and be able to churn out some salsa verde.

I'm glad it's not just me who gets a bit emotional about gardening. I had to have a sit-down after thinning my carrots...

Fly

I don't want to gloat or anything but...


Tomatoes on left, tomatillos on right.


Pattypan squash

Sprinkler and yardstick placed for scale.

Sigh.

Edit: are your tomatillos ballooning?

GG, your pics are always too pretty for words. It is just wonderful to look at your and miz tana's pictures when I am confined.

I concur with Mabelline. I would show photos of my garden, but fear they would reflect badly on me by accurately reflecting both my photographic and weeding skills!

Fly

Wait -- Abby. Are your tomatillos *not* ballooning? If so, no need for apologies from GG. If not so, maybe you got a male plant? But you said you have fruit. Wassup?

edit: corrected spelling

Yep mine are ballooning like a Macy's parade.

Don't mind me. I'm a little out of it this afternoon. So, then – balloons all around.

I have balloons too, but the vines are invading the tomatoes (DH always plants things too close).

We are in zone 5 so things happen slowly around here... we do have some red hot peppers though!

Fly

Microfarming here:

Picked a bunch of edamame yesterday. I think this is going to be the only one, as the plants seem to be dying naturally, or maybe they have some virus. They were small and hairy but very tasty.

8 Strawberries so far this year, looks like 3 more on their way, lots of radishes.

Herb garden is going insane (members who gifted us herb pots a few weeks ago would not believe their current size)

I'm not sure eating any of this is very healthy, given the environment, but it's fun.

Can we talk tomato support? I think it is time that I've moved beyond shoving a big stick in the dirt and tying the vine to it.

Interesting coincidence -- this weekend I was sure my tomatoes would blow over again... they are that tall. I have mine supported in cages but they still look like they're man down at any moment. I propped them up against the porch for support, but that's not the sunniest spot so I need to move them back to their unsupported place. I would like advice too.

We have a number of the traditional cheap round tomato cages available at most garden centres. They don't have much going for them other than being cheap*. They rust, get misshapen, and sometimes fall beneath the weight of fruit-laden plants. We do have some of these which are nice for plants that grow tall, but they don't help that much with very bushy varieties.

Edited to add: This would be nice for containers.

You can also build some. I think I will get DH to try this pattern.

Fly
(*Some people apparently ring them with lights and use them in the garden at Christmas. Some people do.)

When I was growing tomatoes, they were Sweet 100s, an indeterminate type - the vines kept on growing and the crop kept on coming all through the summer and up into November. The only way I could support them, was to build a frame out of 2x2s [really 1.5"x1.5"] that was about 2 ft by 2 ft by 6 ft. This let them grow up and over and still be supported.

I've also made round cages out of 5 or 6 foot wire fencing that I connected at the ends. I would cut out various "windows" for picking using sheet metal shears or wire cutters. To keep them anchored, I'd cut the bottom row of fencing so that I could bend back portions, leaving "stakes" to plunge into the ground at intervals.

The good thing about making your own is that you can make it as wide as you need for the particular type of tomato. In my experience a cage needs to be at least five feet high from the ground up [therefore, not including any prongs that act as stakes] to handle indeterminate types.

According to the site with diy tomato cages... these are the questions....

"Are you tired of wimpy wire tomato cages that fall over just when you get big, plump tomatoes resting on them and then a summer thunderstorm blows through? Do you have problems storing those awkward-sitting wire cages, with all that rusty wire sticking out?"

And YES is the answer. A resounding YES.

My plants and their cages are in containers and that's part of the problem. I can't plunge the ugly and rusty wires further into the earth. And that 3-sided thingy... wonder why it's superior to cages? Anyway, I think I'm going to tie mine to the porch ... again, it's not the ideal sun condition but a girls gotta do...

Abbeleh, as for the veranda, I am not sure what you can do. Maybe next year we need to weigh down our containers with heavy rocks so as to limit blow-over. Or maybe someone will come up with a brilliant mid-season solution and post it here.

Commercial tomato growers don't bother with cages, of course. They use stakes and a system called "Florida weave". http://msucares.com/crops/comhort/tom_weave.html

I've seen the three-sider but never used it. I think the real advantage is that is can be accordion-folded as needed for your container. It's a bit on the small side for anything else though.

Fly

My containers aren't blowing over, the actual plants are just flopping over.

Edit: I think I"m going to go with some of those stakes that flyfish mentioned.

God one day I want to do a florida weave. But in the meantime I will be happy with my ~16" diameter pots "containing" plants that are 3' tall. Even with my limited knowledge of physics , it seems inevitable that they topple over. I want to minimize it if possible. Keeping them well watered (heavier) helps a bit.

The velcro ties are like this....

http://www.gardeners.com/Shopping/sell.asp...andising=Search

But I got mine for cheap at Home Depot. Because I'm cheap. Um thrifty. Um, part scottish.

I love the Gardener's Supply company website, by the way.

Me likey and we have a Home Depot here.

This is timely. My San Marzano plants (my first year for growing them) have outgrown their tomato cages and are flopping over from the weight of the branches . I didn't realize they would get so big.