While I have a nice little crop of common milkweed in the yard, I’ve also got a small clump of Swamp Milkweed in the catio yard. But it hasn’t been looking that great this year.

The flowers are pretty, but the plants are looking pretty sparse. I didn’t think the monarchs were going bother laying any eggs, but the other day…

I found a couple good-sized caterpillars munching away. In fact, these guys were likely in the last stage before heading off to make a chrysalis.

Before I left for Mom’s on Friday, I went out and did a check, and couldn’t find any of them. I’m hoping when I get back, there will be a chrysalis or two for me to find. Apparently they can travel up to 20 feet away to start the next stage of their life… so it’s a crap shoot on whether I will find them or not.

Back in the common milkweed, we have several caterpillars in various stages.

So maybe the odds are in my favour of finding at least ONE chrysalis this year.

At long last, I finally made it to Mom’s! (Wilma is still a diva, but she’s drivable now).

Before I left, I went into the garden so I could bring her a fresh harvest.

I had two good size zucchinis so she can make some zucchini bread.

I brought several large cucumbers – enough for her to eat some fresh, and cut up and put in a jar of vinegar in the fridge for Dad.

Bean production has slowed down, but there was enough for a meal.

The cherry tomatoes are just starting to ripen, so there are not as many – but it’s enough for a snack.

And my garlic was done drying, so I trimmed it all up, and brought her four heads – that should keep her going for a while.

It’s nice to be able share the fruits of the garden.

Just some cool kitties enjoying their catio yard.

With Yule-y wrapped up (and so successful), Mom and I decided we are going to do Aug-tober!!! This month, our quilting projects will be dedicated to making stuff for the Spooky Season!!!

I have a bin just OVERFLOWING with Hallowe’en fabrics, so I’m super excited about this one. Unfortunately, as I’m headed to Mom’s this weekend – I won’t be able to start on anything until after my return… but imagine my surprise when I let Burton pick out my next knitting project and he demanded this…

It’s a skein of Felici and the colourway is called Speed Racer

But knit up, it’s looking pretty Hallowe’en-y. Like most of my stripers, just plain vanilla. They are man socks, so hopefully I can finish them up before the month is out. 30 days to go!

Here we are at the end of July – and the end of mine and Mom’s “MAKE ALL THE CHRISTMAS” extravaganza.

I am very pleased with the three tops I managed to complete, and I’m off to Mom’s tomorrow to get them quilted and ready for the shop!

But if you think I was productive, wait until you see what Mom’s done…

There’s this cure little wall hanging/table topper.

And not one… but TWO completed lap quilts!

and as of writing this post, this one…

Was under the needle of the long arm – so it won’t be long before it’s complete. I call that a very successful mission on both our parts!

Finally, I feel like I made some decent progress on my cross stitching.

Saturday was mostly spent in the garden, but by Sunday, it was disgustingly hot and humid again, so Burton and I plopped ourselves in front of the TV and got down to work.

I was able to finish the dark blue on the right side, and made a good dent in the lighter blue you see there. There’s five different shades of blue in the upper wings so I really have to pay attention to the symbols on the pattern. There was a little ripping (I’ve had way more ripping on this one as opposed to the butterfly), but it wasn’t anything major.

I’ve got plans to head to Mom’s this coming weekend, so there probably won’t be a TNT for next week. But it will return the week after.

If there’s two things that cucurbits love, it’s heat and wet. And we’ve had a good amount of it this summer. You can see the pumpkins and gourds happily growing up and over the right side of the squash tunnel.

So much so that I needed to get out there with a pair of garden shears to tame them down a bit.

Unlike most gardeners, I haven’t had a mass of zucchini – just that one HUGE one so far (though there are two more coming now). The one thing the Zucchini has produced is a mass of huge leaves. Huge leaves that were shading out the poor Cucamelons. I trimmed away anything that was blocking the tiny-leaved cucamelons, and they seem quite happy for it. They are still small and fairly sparse, but they are finally climbing the tunnel, and giving us flowers.

Just look at that tiny thing! Hopefully it will produce a fruit very soon!

As I was cutting away leaves, I also discovered these.

On the left is a wee guord, and the right is a wee white pumpkin. And there’s others as well. The pumpkins are orange, white and black (very dark green) and will get to about this size.

I didn’t even see this one as I was cutting and accidentally cut him off. I think it’s ok because he looks like he was about ready to be picked! These guys can be used for pies, but I’m growing them just for decoration. I hope I have enough to cover the front porch and gardens in them for Hallowe’en!

And in other tiny news. Those few little seeds starts I put outside in the woodland garden finally seemed to be taking off.

The left is Delphiumn – the right… I’m unsure. I thought it might be Bellflowers, but then I realized the bellflower tray was still inside and they were dead. So these may be Cherry Brandy Black-Eyed Susans, but I’m not 100% convinced.

Whatever they are, I decided it was time to pot them on.

I had a tonne of nursery pots left over from spring, so I put two to a pot, and I’ve set them in a slightly sunnier spot in the Woodland Garden. I’m hoping they continue the do well and I can plant them in the garden before fall.

Anything small happening in your garden?

This sign isn’t quite new – I bought it – I think – in the winter. It was on clearance. But I finally decided on the perfect spot for it – on the catio fence in the butterfly bush. That’s the big white one (White Profusion). It’s the biggest, but it’s almost always the last to start blooming. You can just see a few bloom spikes starting.

All of the others are blooming nicely. From Left to Right we have Black Knight, Buzz Lavender, and Queen of Hearts. I also have Royal Red – but it’s very close in colour to Queen of Hearts. Queen, however is a more compact variety, compared to Royal.

And they are giving lots of nectar to the butterflies. I haven’t had much of a chance to get pictures, but I was out in the milkweed forest (we’ve got about seven plants in Willow Grove now), and…

We’ve got Monarch Caterpillars!!! There are tonnes of eggs too – so Monarch watch has begun! With any luck, we’ll find a chrysalis or two and be able to watch them emerge as monarchs!

But that’s not all that’s new and exciting in the garden.

The Crocosmia are blooming. I have this one – called Sunglow. And a pretty red-orange called Montbretia. They have such a beautiful tropical look. They are native to East and South Africa, and it amazes me that they can grow here.

And I’m finally having a little luck with the Dahlias. The yellow one is planted directly in the island garden out front. The pink pair are in a pot in the catio. I think all the rain we had over the last couple weeks have really helped. Though the other two I have in pots in the front garden are still looking pitiful.

Of the cosmos seeds I started in the peat pods, I only got a couple plants. This is one, and I’m so glad it made it. It’s called Xanthos and it’s just the prettiest shade of pale yellow. I have a couple other cosmos in the front garden that seeded themselves naturally, but they aren’t blooming yet. Next year, Im going to plant more – but directly!

And this is super exciting! Back in may, I planted some annual sweet pea seeds at the base of the new arbour. But they didn’t take (I’ve always had issues with sweet peas). But… a few weeks later, I found a couple perennial sweet pea plants at a garden centre. They’ve been growing well, but I was starting to think they would never bloom. But I went out there the other day – and there were these bright pink flowers staring back it me! The only down side is the perennial ones don’t have the lovely scent like the annuals do. But…. at least these one are growing.

My blue Rose of Sharon got off to a very slow start – so slow I thought she might have died – but she’s doing beautifully now. The pictures do not do these blooms justice – they almost glow in the light. They are such a pretty colour!

The Honey Suckle on the catio fence also had a sad start. In spring it was hit hard by aphids and barely bloomed at all. But thankfully, this one is a re-bloomer and just look at her now! Both Dave and I have seen the hummingbirds stopping by for a sip on multiple occasions.

That’s about all that’s new… almost everything that’s going to bloom is – with the exception of the Helenium, Asters, and Toad Lilys. But I don’t want to rush them because then it means Fall is really on its way. For now, I’m just enjoying the abundance and riot of colour that is my yard.

As you saw yesterday, I harvested the broccoli

I think I let three go a little too long, but the fourth looks about perfect. I’m definitely thrilled considering it’s my first time growing broccoli.

Harvesting of peas, beans and cucumbers continues to be a regular occurrence. The peas are snap peas, so I tend to harvest them early, and we eat them pod and all – usually as a snack. Half of them don’t even make them in the house for Dave. They go soft really quickly, so I don’t like to bring too many in at a time.

Things have been pretty busy, so I wasn’t harvesting them as much as usual, so quite a few of them had developed good-sized peas.

So I decided – why not try cooking some up.

I sat down and shelled them all, getting just enough for two to go with dinner. They were good, but I think I prefer them raw.

“Excuse me. What am I supposed to do with this? Can’t you plant a tuna tree or something??????”