snapshots of summer

Don't you love sun tea? Even though our AC is broken, I'm loving the sunshine... This brew is a mix of regular black Lipton tea along with a bag of mint green tea. All it needs is some ice cubes and a sprig of mint. I was inspired by this post I saw the other day...yum.

Okay. So remember my last post, about the mystery vine? After some research, I found that it's called Virginia Creeper, and is a fast-growing vine that is incredibly beautiful in the fall, as shown here. I was tempted to grow it up a trellis, but the girlie side of me won out--I kept thinking about it overtaking the fence, then the house, and being filled with all sorts of creepy crawlies... (And I call myself an aspiring gardener. I know, I know, I need to get over the bug thing...)

It sounds like it's one of those things where if you commit to it, you commit to it. and I don't think I'd like to commit just yet. So after reading post after post, I went outside and pulled it up--it had already began creeping under the fence into the neighbors yard, so I'm glad I grabbed it when I did.

After cleaning everything up, I looked at the bed for awhile, a la Linus. "It's not such a bad area," I told Dex, and decided I'd like to transform it into a cutting garden for next year. Once that thought popped into my head, I became super excited I stumbled back here in the first place. So now the research begins for summer perennials I can plant this fall. I have literally hopped foot to foot at the idea--how fun will that be??

Other things we're growing this year:

From front to back:

-Mixed wildflowers

-Strawberries

-Basil (boxwood and sweet)

-Another mystery plant...woohoo! (seeds I received from my mother-in-law last year)

-Serrano peppers
-Acorn squash (not pictured)

-Mint (not pictured)

-And a few other seedlings--chives, lavender, anise, & basil--who have yet to emerge.

It will hopefully be a leafy season indeed, and I wish the same for you. :)