Bogless seed beds - End of Summer Photos....

I love her color. Next cat I get will be 'orange' and white. I just like them.
Thanks for the tip about Ace. I'll see if my store has them, if not I will order one. I've been looking for a mold, and I like that one. And the cost isn't bad either.
~Lucy

Fly, thanks for the offer of cuttings. I will take them happily and try them out. Will probably keep in the front yard though away from the dogs.

Becky, love the cobblestone. I know what you mean about those bags of cement. My brother-in-law and I have been trying our hand at making stepping stones. It is so fun. We just make a mold, pour the cement in and decorate with stuff like river rock, anything I can find in the crafts section at Wal-Mart (we have some pretty colorful ones I tell ya), mosaic tiles. They all turned out great, not perfect but who needs perfect. We are really enjoying them but I will be honest I could not pick up a back of the concrete. I tried and it was pretty funny. The thing would not budge.

And Becky, the orange cosmos are so beautiful. It is kind of weird but we, my mother and I, have found that here the orange/yellow ones do way better than any other color. I have tried the purples and such but the orange ones always do so much better. But have never had any that tall. They are really striking in your garden.

Oh and my love to Penny. All of my pets, two dogs, one cat, are rescued. Mine were rescued off the street but would never get a pet anywhere other than the shelters or strays. They make the best pets. Although I have noticed they get spoiled really, really easy. I am almost unable to live with mine they expect so much. But I really do enjoy spoiling them and for some odd reason I think they enjoy it too. LOL. Enjoy that pretty kitty, she looks like a sweetie and is one lucky cat to have you take her home.

Everything is just awesome Becky but wow a lot of work I know. Always great when it pays off tenfold like yours has.

Leslie

These orange cosmos are such great nectar plants that I can't hardly pull them out, but I've been forced too. They have taken over!! When we started getting some high temps and lots of mosquitoes I didn't spend much time in my front bed. After a few weeks I looked out and realized I had nothing but cosmos! This pic is after I pulled out 2 lawn sacks full of orange cosmos and red salvias!! (I took a before pic but my camera freaked out and I lost the pic)

I uncovered lots of Rudbeckia's (yay) a couple Porterweed's and a few Caryopteris. You can't see any of them tho! I'm pretty much stuck with the orange because it makes the butterflies happy! :)

WOW! That's beautiful Paige!!!

Your Cosmos don't look as tall as mine seem to be getting. I love mine, but wish they were a little shorter! LOL! I've got lots of red salvia, too. And quite a bit of Black-eyed Susans and Zinnias! All seem to entice the butterflies, bees, and moths! I've got a lot of different vines along the fence, too. I think the White Peacocks live in my yard and the Skippers and Sulphurs hang out all day in my yard too. Often when I am watering the plants in the late afternoon/early evening ..... I chase the WP and Skippers out of their night resting spot. LOL! They love hiding in my vines. And I still have the squirrels, birds, and one or two rodents that come hit the bird feeder every morning and evening. Lots of activity in the yard .... just not a lot of butterflies except the ones I mentioned above. I sure hope to start seeing some GF, Monarchs, and BSTs soon!

And I am still holding out hope for a hummer! :-) :-)

Paige, you have the best looking milkweed! How do you do it? They are so full and lush, do you fertilize them?

Mine tend to be leggy and lose the lower leaves. What's up with that?

Love the orange bed in the front.....is orange your favorite color of what? LOL

Becky, I can't believe no hummers yet! It just doesn't add up...you should be having lots of them! This may sound corny, but you should put a sign out that says....."Hummers Welcome", you need some hummer karma out there!

Thanks y'all! I don't really do anything to it, which includes fertilizing. I have always used a lot of compost tho. You can't really see my biggest cosmos in this pic. They are toward the back of the bed. They're not as big as yours Becky, but they are gigantic compared to how they started. What's up with that??

Fly, guess what...I've always hated the color orange! Until I started gardening, that is. I started with other colors and then some small zinnias caught my eye one year and then I learned to love orange.

These milkweed plants in front have really big stalks. I didn't pay any attention but they are perennial here so these may be from last year. (or not) I'm using the single stalked ones for food first because they are so tall and they can branch out some. I think they lose their lower leaves from aphids and drought, or you have a bunny too! If they are too leggy, cut them back.

The hummers have been using them this year too. I say hummers, but I only get one, but not sure if it's the same one. We're just so happy to see it!

I'm starting to see a lot more GF's and the Monarchs are coming in! woohoo!! Queens are thicker and trying to multiply quickly. I'd love to see one of the White Peacock's! I have a bunny tho!