Some photos around the Watkins residence:

Lazarus!

I bought three purple kale plants on clearance sale, and this is the one which did the best. It looks quite comfortable among the pink dianthus and the blooming Autumn Joy sedum. (9/18/01)

This is my home vegetable garden. Though the soil and slope are fine, this spot is shaded by the neighbor's tall cherry trees until about noon, then begins to fall back into shade from the University's white pine trees at around 5:00. (I think this limits the productivity, though I have no more suitable location on the property.) This year, the squash are on the near end, with cucumbers and beans along the left (north) fence. In the middle are scattered some tomatoes and peppers, as well as some more beans and two short rows of Swiss chard. The Spring crops of lettuce, radishes , and onions at the far end have been harvested, and will be replaced by a fall crop of turnips, and maybe Chinese cabbage. The picture is from the west, June 29, 2001.

This is something that surprised me this year. At the center of this frame are two clusters of pinkish flowers on stalks. Believe it or not, these are blooms on the Hen and Chicks plants which are in the rock garden. I'm sure others know that these creatures bloom, but I had never before seen it! The picture was taken on June 28, 2001.

I prefer perennials, for cost reasons, and also so I don't have to replant the garden every year as I would have to if I planted annuals. This is a picture of my Black-eyed Susans at the right, with a blooming lily on the left. East bed, June 14, 2001.

This is my herb bed, constructed over the 2000-2001 winter. From the left can be seen garlic chives, regular chives, sage, an Enterprise apple tree which I plan to espalier, parsley, red basil, thyme, oregano (mostly obscured), and mint--an aggressively spreading plant which my buddy Mike calls a weed. I am beginning to think he's right!! (June 14, 2001)

This is a view of the rock garden, which is sorely in need of some attention. The iris along the left are done for the season. The "Little Grapette" daylily at the front center is just coming on. The Japanese Blood Grass at the front right isn't really as happy as it should be. At the back center can be seen a clump of Blue Fescue partially obscuring my healthy Mugho Pine. At the top right, you can see part of a bonsai Japanese Black Pine I created several years ago. I have been able to keep it alive for longer than normal, probably by burying its container. (June 14, 2001)

Some photos from earlier:

Dianthus in the east bed, May 5, 2001

Peony in the east bed, May 5, 2001. (Oops, that's a dandelion along the right side of the picture!) This is a division of a plant at my mother's home in St. Louis, and it was a division of a plant from my late Grandma McCarty of northwest Ohio. Mom's plant goes back over twenty years.

Iris in the rock garden, along the west wall. These were purchased from Sunny Hill Nursery in 1997. They had been bred by Mr. Niswonger, a well-known iris specialist in Cape Girardeau. Unfortunately, the identification tag faded during the first year, so I have lost the name of this variety. Photo taken May 5, 2001.

"Kidney" bed in the front yard, with the round bed and the east bed in the background. This shows primarily my blooming dianthus, commonly called "pinks." These actually are pink! The light purple flower just left of center is an allium christophii ("Star of Persia"), given to me by my friend Mike Renth. (May 5, 2001)

Allium bulgaricum in the east bed, May 6, 2001. As Mike says, "The dirt is in focus!" This demonstrates that my camera has certain limits on close-up shots. The plant to the left is my dwarf crape myrtle, which I was afraid had died over our rather harsh winter. Instead, it simply died back, and has a flush of new growth. By the way, the dirt sure looks good, doesn't it? It's a new application of top soil/mulch from my local megastore.