HOSTAS & SUNFLOWERS ~ HOT DAYS ~ FAMILY VISITOR ~ GARDEN UPDATE ~ PARTING SHOT

HOSTAS & SUNFLOWERS

Some of the most beautiful plants in our yard are the Hostas, also known as Plantain Lilies. We had loads of them in our yard back in NC because we had primarily shade there. Here we have mostly sun, so it has been a challenge to find enough shade to plant our Hostas. We brought several kinds with us across country, and most of them have survived and are thriving here in Yakima. One of my favorites is Fried Bananas, which we got on my 50th birthday at a nursery near Raleigh called Plant Delights. This nursery specializes in rare and hard-to-find perennials, and has a wide variety of Hostas. Fried Bananas is a Hosta with large, medium-green colored leaves and big, beautiful flowers. Below is a gorgeous picture that Linda took of the flower on this Hosta. The hummers and bees love the Hosta flowers.

Fried Bananas flower

Fried Bananas tends to become quite large

Another Hosta we brought with us to Yakima is an "old fashioned" Hosta, called Plantaginia or August Lily. This one blooms later than the other Hostas, usually in August. It also has the most fragrant and largest flower of all the Hostas. To read an interesting article on fragrant Hostas click here. As the article states, an interesting thing about the Plantaginia flowers is that they open in the late afternoon instead of early in the morning, like other Hostas do. This picture below has a flower that opened yesterday, and several that will most likely open today.

August Lily Hosta

We also brought with us a blue Hosta called Drinking Gourd. One look at the leaves and you can tell this one was appropriately named. The huge leaves are bowl-shaped and sometimes catch the rain or dew. I have seen birds going to the leaves and drinking water from them. This Hosta prefers shade but gets a bit too much sun where it is now. Drinking Gourd has already bloomed out, but the leaves are still very interesting. They have a pattern on them that resembles quilting.

Drinking Gourd Hosta

Hostas are perennial tubers which die back in the Fall. Linda told me a funny story about how her mom, who lived in Southern California where nothing really dies back, thought her Hosta was dead because the leaves turned brown in the Fall. She dug it up and threw it away. So please, if you have a Hosta and the leaves turn brown in the Fall, do not dig it up. It will come back in the Spring.

The sunflowers in the front yard have gotten huge. I’ve already had to tie one to the hanging basket post. The bees are really enjoying them, as evidenced by these pictures below.

Bees on the Sunflowers

HOT DAYS

We have had some very hot temperatures for the past week or so, with every day being 99° or above. This means that our little feathered friends are really feeling the heat. One day when it was into the triple digits I sat and watched the birds at the feeder. Every single one of them was panting.

Poor Birdies!

You could tell they were hot, and we had loads of customers at the bird bath. We sometimes had 6 or more birds on the bird bath at one time. Linda felt so sorry for them that she put out a terra cotta tray filled with water on the ground so they would be able to get to it easily.

Water Station 2

We continue to see new quail families showing up under our feeder. This past week we saw the family with 4 babies, and briefly saw a family with 10 or more babies. The large family scattered when Poppa saw me, and I haven’t seen them again. But it is nice to know we have so many quail babies out there. I am hoping that a lot of them survive to become adults. Here are some videos of the babies we saw this week. They are so tiny and cute.

The parents look like huge dinosaurs whenever they walk past a "chick" (this is what quail babies are called). The babies are so fast it is sometimes hard to keep them in the camera frame.

Poppa Quail is the protector of the group and keeps a sharp eye out for anything out of the ordinary. He spots me watching them through the living room window and he usually hustles them into the bushes. I have to move extremely slowly to get video or else he sees me and, poof, they are gone.

These babies are so tiny I almost can't stand it. They are just too cute for words. Look at how they don't have any tail feathers, just little pink butts. Adorable!!

Since we are on the subject of birds, I'd like to insert a Public Service Announcement. Did you know that feeding bread to waterfowl of any kind could be dangerous to the bird's health? There is a condition known as Angel Wing (read about it here) which comes from eating high-calorie, high-protein food. Eating bread has been known to cause this condition in ducks and geese. I was alerted to this fact by my friend Alyssa Davis, who lives near Chicago and has a wildlife photography business (visit her Facebook page View From My Window Photography by clicking here). She also happens to live right beside a lake that is frequented by many waterfowl, most specifically Canada Geese. Last week she noticed a young juvenile goose was displaying the symptoms of Angel Wing. She posted a picture of it on Facebook and explained why feeding bread to ducks and geese is not a good idea. I had never heard about this, so I Googled it and read up on it (see link above). Alyssa is keeping an eye on the goose and will call in a rescue when the family is no longer around to look after the afflicted member.

FAMILY VISITOR

We have had our oldest granddaughter visiting with us this week. She has been having a good time painting, mostly rocks, while binging on episodes of Battlestar Galactica. She also painted this little sun plaque that I got on a trip to Cabo San Lucas a few years ago. It had been hanging outside in the weather and lost all its color. I must admit she came up with an interesting color combination! Now I have to decide where to put it. It is too pretty to be out in the weather, so I’m going to try and find somewhere else to hang it so it won't fade.

GARDEN UPDATE

With all this hot weather, things out in the garden have really started to ramp up. I went out a couple days ago and picked 8 yellow squash and a zucchini, all in one day. If all the squash plants produce like that we are going to be inundated! The cucumbers are finally starting to produce and there are lots of green tomatoes out there. I am impatiently waiting for them to ripen so I can have my first tomato sandwich of the season. The pepper bushes are loaded for the most part. I have picked a few, but I am trying to wait until they turn red. Yesterday I picked one of the 2 Habanero peppers that I have on those bushes. It was so cute I couldn’t resist. I sliced it real thin and put it in a jar of pickled corn that I made.

The toothpick is for size comparison

PARTING SHOT

Summer Girl has been spending most of her time outside since we have a guest in the house. She does not take too kindly to strangers, although she did allow herself to be briefly petted by our guest (sorry, L.H.). Here she is out in the yard, complaining to me about her lack of unfettered access to “her” house.

What a whiner!

That's it for this week folks. Please check back again next week. I am going to leave you with this saying that I saw on a t-shirt: "In a world where you can be anything, be kind."