My very favorite of my summer veggies are my tomatoes. Nothing tastes better than a home grown tomato!

Home grown red bell peppers taste better than anything. Part of the good taste comes from knowing how much money I'm saving. They are 1.80 apiece in the store. I can eat 3 a day from the garden.

I used to grow my own peppers with a few plants each year. But I haven't planted any these past few years. I used to have red and green bells and then also Cubanelle which are a light green non bell type just great for frying. I stay away from the hot peppers as I don't like hot peppers.

I grew a beautiful little orange pepper last year that looked like baby carrots. The plant and peppers were so pretty they earned a spot in the flower bed by the door. I can't find that variety this year. Many of the hot peppers are ornamental enough that they fit right in the flower beds where I forget to pick them. peppers provide terrific fall color.

I do think some of the hot peppers make pretty plants but I don't eat hot peppers so don't see the point in growing them. I like red bell type peppers the best though of all the peppers.

I like the non-bell sweet peppers like Corno Di Toro, Marconi and Gypsy. I grew some hot peppers called Ring-O-Fire and now have enough hot pepper powder to last more than a lifetime.

Why is it that you can't grow red bell peppers from seeds that you get out of a bell pepper from the store? I wait until they go on sale 3/$1 and then get 3. I can't digest bell pepper too well.. dunno why. I can kinda eat the yellows/red/oranges, but the greens (my fav) make me violently ill (doesn't matter, I still eat them ).

I was going through my photos and cropping them when I noticed how nice the backdrop is this time of year, so here are some uncropped photos. They're large photos, so you'll have to enlarge them for the full effect. I just love this time of year!

I especially love that first one, so many colors!! What's odd is I can't orientate myself. Is that in the right back corner? And who is that pretty pink?

The pretty pink is the other Aloha, the Boerner climber. It was taken at the bottom of the deck stairs, near the solarium door, but looking toward Linda and Tracy's fence. The first arbor holds Peppermint Delight and the white one beyond that holds Blaze. The tall lump above the pink blooms is Queen Elizabeth and the other half of Peppermint Delight. Does that help? Actually, I could have made this much easier by telling you I was standing right by the area above the septic tank, but I didn't really want to talk about septic tanks.

When you take a shot, it just gives you such a still view that I don't recognize it because I usually just wander through and key in on individual blooms. Besides, it's easy to get lost among all those blooms!

I know. Sometimes I have no clue what I've photographed because I can't figure out where I was when I took the picture. I try to follow the same route every time I take pictures so that I can get a clue from the photos taken before and after, but that doesn't always work. I usually spend part of the next day searching for blooms that resemble the mystery photos.

Am I the only one who has a problem with raccoons ?
I gave up trying to grow anything edible because they find it and devour it. I'm just glad they don't know that daylilies are edible or I'd be in deep kimchee...either that or they just don't like the flavor of the ones I have.
I did do cherry tomatoes in a hanging container once...then they found those, too.

Zu: Your photo's (as usual) are breathtaking and envy provoking !
Toni: ".....enough to make a buzzard barf....." Now THAT's funny !!!

Yes, the raccoons eat my apples, plums, pears, and persimmons. I don't grow vegetables. They also elbow the outdoor cats out of the way and eat their cat food.

I love the uncropped photos! You must do that more often,

Rita I have the same problem with hot peppers. Darn genetics and stomach problems! I used to love spicy food. I tried jalapenos last year (my heat limit) but it was so hard to keep up with the drought.

This year I'm fighting ants and whiteflies. Darn organic gardening! I have to spray my pepper/garlic/dish soap mix just about daily because of all the rain we've been getting. (I won't complain about the rain and instead all the critters who keep sampling my wares!)

I like the taste of all the non hot peppers, green yellow or red. Just not the hot ones.

A few shots taken in the last couple of days.


Cafe


Iris 'Sharpshooter'


Denver's Dream


Vesper


The beautiful 'Helen Hayes'


Mini climber 'Work of Art'


Royal Sunset, a climber


David Austin's 'Grace'


My favorite rose to take photos of, probably my favorite rose actually in my garden! Kordes 'Aloha'.


Louise Clements


My sport of 'Rusty'


Adobe Sunrise


Cinco de Mayo


Westerland


My new Hybrid Musk rambler I got the end of last year from Palatine, 'Ghislaine de Féligonde'.


Autumn Sunset


Teasing Georgia


Pompon Flower Circus


Louisiana Iris 'Colorific'.


Iris 'Drama Queen'


Belle Epoque


Kniphofia against the blue anchusa, Molineux looks a bit washed out here on the left of the anchusa.

Sue - You know, Denver Dream NEVER looks that good here. Ever.

Oh Sue, it is SO beautiful there!